GREENFIELD — A late evening fire destroyed a two-story family home, including beloved dogs and puppies, and displaced the people living there Tuesday night, officials say.
Fire units from the Greenfield Fire Territory, along with several crews from surrounding departments were called to 3200 block of North 400E, Greenfield shortly after 7 p.m. The home is located in a rural area and it took officials nearly seven hours to clear the scene.
Luke Eichholtz, public information officer for GFT, said the fire was a defensive battle and took some time to knock down as firefighters were attacking the blaze from the outside going in. Officials had to bring in water via tanker trucks to battle the blaze due to the rural location.
“It was tricky early on due to the intensity of the fire,” Eichholtz said. “The good news, everyone who was home and inside was able to get out and there were no injuries to the occupant or firefighters.”
The home belonged to John and Tina Schaeffer, a couple in their 60s who had several dogs and a new batch of puppies. Tina Schaeffer’s son, James Bishop, said one of the dogs, Tinka, made it out along with one of the puppies and that officials found another adult dog, Kelly, alive in the bedroom after the fire had been put out. However, two other adult dogs, including a beloved 14-year-old named Chapo, who was the father of the puppies, perished in the fire along with three of the puppies.
“It’s devastating,” Bishop said. “My mom loved her dogs and is just so heart broken … She’s got Tinka and Kelly now and I just gave them the puppy.”
Bishop went back to visit the scene of the fire Wednesday morning to inspect the damage with his uncle who also lived in the house. Bishop noted it was a heart wrenching time for his mother and the rest of the family.
“Everything is gone,” he said.
Tina Schaeffer’s other son, Chris Bennett, who lives in Kentucky, said his mom was home alone when the fire started and had just stepped into the shower when the fire broke out.
“She was able to get out, and she tried to go back in to save the dogs, but she couldn’t,” Bennett said. “Her husband, John, (her son’s stepdad) was out dealing with a broken-down car on the side of the highway and had to be picked up after he heard about the fire.”
Officials say the blaze destroyed the home and everything in it. The GFT fire marshal, Steve Kropacek, is currently investigating to try and determine the cause but said he didn’t have anything to report as of press time.
“We don’t know how the fire started, but we do know the house was deemed a total loss,” Eichholtz said. “Crews were on the scene for a while after knocking out the main fire, putting out hot spots and flareups for several hours.”
The home was located on a piece of land with not many neighbors nearby and without a water hydrant, meaning water had to be hauled-in, which officials noted takes time.
“We had additional tankers bringing in a water supply to fight the fire, so we had a lot of tankers coming and going and a lot of moving parts in this one,” Eichholtz said. “Fortunately, we had a lot of support from our mutual aid partners.”
Officials with GFT established command on the fire with assistance from Buck Creek Township, Sugar Creek Township, the Charlottesville Fire Department, Green Township, and the Pendleton Fire Department.
“It was a pretty big effort by pretty much everyone in Hancock County and the surrounding mutual aid,” Eichholtz said.
The family has created a GoFundMe account to try and help the Schaeffer’s get back on their feet. Anyone wishing to help or donate to the cause can visit, https://gofund.me/9a9d30ca and make a contribution.
“What breaks my heart the most in all of this is my mom is the person who collected the photo albums and the little knick-knacks from when we were little and from our weddings and those are the things that are gone and can’t be replaced,” Bennett said. “She really loved and cared for those dogs.”
