House fire leaves Barnesville home a total loss
BARNESVILLE — A Barnesville woman lost her family home and some of her pets to a blaze that occurred while she was at work Friday.
The Barnesville Fire Department received a call at 2:37 p.m. Friday dispatching it to battle the blaze. Firefighters arrived at 60185 Sandy Ridge Road to find a house engulfed in flames.
Bethesda Fire Department, Somerton Volunteer Fire Department, Belmont VFD and Morristown VFD assisted with the blaze. Barnesville Police Department was also on scene, and the American Red Cross canteen truck fed the firefighters with snacks and water, according to Barnesville Fire Chief Tim Hall.
Hall called out the Morristown and Belmont fire departments for tanker trucks to haul water because along Sandy Ridge, the hydrants are not the best, he said.
First responders were on the scene until about 5:30 p.m.
Hall met with a representative of the Ohio State Fire Marshal’s Office on Monday morning. Investigators ruled the cause of the fire as undetermined and still under investigation.
Owner Tessa Danford was at work when the fire broke out, leaving her animals to try to escape on their own. Although Danford wasn’t injured, some cats and her parrots did not make it out, though her dogs and one cat did escape.
The house was ruled a total loss, but the damage did not spread to any other structures.
Danford reportedly lost everything in the fire, but a GoFundMe.com account titled “Help Tessa Rebuild After Devastating Fire” is set up to support her with donations during this time. As of Monday evening, the page had raised $7,820 of its $15,000 goal with 106 donations.
Bill Teufel, a coworker of Danford’s at WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital, organized the fundraiser. Danford works as a dialysis nurse and, according to the GoFundMe page, was doing hemodialysis on a patient when she found out her house was on fire.
The house was Branford’s family home where she has lived since she was 10 years old.
“Tessa is always so helpful to her coworkers and patients,” Teufel noted on the fundraiser site while urging people to give to the cause.