An apparent outdoor trash fire resulted in a horrific blaze on Friday, April 29. The fire completely demolished Trail Plumbing, located just east of Bunker Hill at 4319 CR 168. Firefighters from a number of area departments came to assist East Holmes Fire on the blaze, which raged uncontrollably. Large billows of dark, thick smoke could be seen rising into the evening sunset for miles.

Firefighters worked hard to contain the flames to Trail Plumbing. The business is adjacent to Berlin Gravely sales, a tractor and small engine shop, which is separated from Trail Plumbing by a cement block wall. As the firefighters fought to contain the fire, at around 8 p.m., several large, thunderous explosions could be heard coming from within the fire.

“I have never seen a fire this big before,” said one onlooker. “We were over near Walnut Creek and we could easily see it from there.”

What could have made things worse was that CR 168 is currently closed as the Ohio Department of Transportation works on the Bunker Hill US 62 and CR 77 roadway project. Fortunately, a company doing some of the heavy machinery road work was still at the site when the fire broke out around 6:45 p.m., and employees were able to form a dirt ramp on the closed portion of CR 168. Otherwise it would have been nearly a one foot drop from the pavement of CR 168 to the dirt below, a distance which fire trucks would not have been able to traverse. The successful preparation of the dirt ramps allowed the fire trucks and personnel passage to the fire, saving valuable time.

As of this post, it appeared as though firefighters were been able to contain most of the damage to Trail Plumbing. Readers can find a complete story on the fire in the May 5 edition of The Holmes County Journal.