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Lightning may be to blame for preschool fire

Firefighter treated for heat exhaustion

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By Justin McClelland, Staff Writer Updated 2:01 PM Monday, June 15, 2009

MASON — A lightning strike looks to be the cause of a fire at a Mason preschool that took firefighters nearly five hours to contain Sunday nnight, June 14.

Crews were called to the Mason Early Childhood Center, 4631 Hickory Woods Drive, shortly after 3:30 p.m. with reports of smoke coming from the roof.

Mason Deputy Fire Chief Craig Bryant said that the fire was located between the outside and inside decking, which made battling the fire difficult.

“It wasn’t on the outside or the inside,” Bryant said.

Bryant said that 36 fire units were needed to help fight the blaze because of it’s tricky location.

Bryant said no one was inside the building when the fire was reported. One firefighter was taken to a hospital, suffering from heat exhaustion, but has already been released.

A damage estimate has not been calculated yet, but Bryant said the interior of the building suffered severe water damage.

Crews had to make a “trench cut” in the roof — described by Bryant as a 12-18 inch gap — around the fire area in an effort to prevent the fire from spreading. From there, crews either poured water into the gap or peeled the roof back where possible to fight it directly

Bryant said that while the origin of the fire had not yet been determined, it was believed to have been caused by a lightning strikes.

Thunderstorms affected much of Southwestern Ohio throughout Sunday afternoon. Bryant said his crew had been on the scene of another lightning strike when called to the Early Childhood Center.

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