Republic house damaged from cooking fire, no injuries reported

A house located at the intersection of Sandelwood and Basswood Street in Republic was severely damaged in a fire that started in the kitchen and spread into the garage on the evening of Sunday, June 16. No one was injured.
“(Sunday) night’s fire started as a kitchen-cooking fire that was left unattended,” said Republic Fire Chief Duane Compton. “(The family) exited the home. As they were exiting the home, the door was open going into the garage, (and) the fire advanced into the garage.
Compton stated that when the fire went into the garage, it caused a variety of combustible items stored in there to ignite.
“There were several small explosions, aerosol cans, tires, paint,” he said. “No big deal, that’s common stuff we have happen in a fire. We had one that was a little bit larger in nature, which is when a gas tank on a motorcycle exploded. That was the big (explosion) that everybody heard.”
The Republic Fire Department was back at the house on Monday evening over concerns that the fire had reignited. Compton called the situation a “weird fluke.” “It’s really hard to explain, but some books were smoldering,” he said. “We really don’t know why. There were probably some embers in there from last night.”
At the time of the fire, the house was being rented by a Greene County deputy sheriff and his family. Captain Travis Liska, of the Republic Fire Department, confirmed the deputy sheriff and his family were living in the house; he declined to give the name of the deputy. The Greene County Sheriff’s Office also confirmed that the deputy and his family were living in the house. Asked if the deputy and his family were in need of any assistance, the sheriff’s office stated they were currently waiting to hear from the insurance company, and the family did have another place to live.