HOPE VALLEY — The cause of a blaze that engulfed the second floor of a Spring Street house Wednesday afternoon remains under investigation by the Hopkinton Police Department and Office of the State Fire Marshal.
The 2:22 p.m. fire at 18 Spring St. began with an "explosion," several people at the scene reported, but none said they knew its cause.
"We have no idea at this time, but it had to be something out of the ordinary," said Hope Valley-Wyoming Fire Chief Frederick Stanley.
Firefighters — who had been at the Hope Valley-Wyoming fire station just down the street at the time of the call — had the blaze under control within 15 minutes, Stanley said. Ashaway and Carolina fire crews soon arrived to help knock down the fire, which began on the second floor in the rear of the house, he added.
Officials from Hopkinton police and the fire marshal's office could not be reached for comment this morning. The house's three occupants were home at the time of the fire.
Leona Scholle, who owns the house where she has lived since the 1970s, said she was asleep downstairs when her son, Kurt, woke her up and hurried her out of the house.
"I have no idea what happened," she said.
Kurt Scholle, who was upstairs when the fire began, said there was "just a big bang and some flames. We don't know what happened." He said he exited the top floor through a glass sliding door and down the outdoor stairs. Then he re-entered the house to wake up his mother.
"I didn't go through the house," Kurt Scholle said. "There were flames coming out through that way."
Kurt Scholle said his brother, John Robert, was in the backyard by the edge of Locustville Pond at the time of the fire, but he ran into the house.
"We were both yelling at him to not go back in, but he went in for something," Kurt Scholle said.
John Robert Scholle, who is in his 50s, was taken to The Westerly Hospital, his mother and brother said.
The Hope Valley Ambulance Squad brought him to the hospital because of smoke inhalation concerns, said ambulance Chief Fred Sherman, noting he had singed hair and nasal hair and a "bright red" mouth. He had been inside the house when a second explosion occurred, said ambulance Deputy Chief John Gardiner. Jennifer Place, who lives across the street, said she was outside with her neighbor when she heard "an explosion" and someone yelling from the Scholles' house. She said she then saw "flames shooting out of the top of the house."
Place said she called 911 as she and her neighbor ran over to the house. They were worried about Leona, an older woman, she said.
Place said she brought the Scholles' dog — which didn't want to leave the yard because of its electric fence — to her house while they waited for the fire department.
"Just thank God everybody's out," she said, as firefighters assessed damage at the house.
The Ashaway Ambulance Association and the Providence Canteen also responded to the fire.
Units:
Engine's 913 , 912 and Ladder 911 , Tanker 919 Car 901
Mutual Aid:
Carolina Tanker 615 and Engine 611 Ashaway Tanker 415 and Engine 411
