Fire units from North Olmsted and Fairview Park were called to assist Westlake firefighters put out a grease fire at a Rose Road house April 12. Damage was estimated at $45,000. (Photo by Larry Bennet)

Grease fire damages Westlake home
By Kevin Kelley
Westlake
Published April 19, 2006

A grease fire at a home near the intersection of Rose and Canterbury roads caused an estimated $40,000 in damage, fire department officials said.

Units from North Olmsted and Fairview Park joined Westlake firefighters in putting out the blaze, which began around 1 p.m. the afternoon of April 12.

The fire began in the garage, Westlake Fire Chief Richard Pietrick said.

“They were frying potatoes,” he said. “It was a grease fire.”

The fire spread when a woman at the house tried to put out the fire by throwing water on it, Pietrick said. Grease fires need to be covered, he noted, as water causes them to flare up.

Pietrick credited the woman with closing the door to the garage as she exited, which prevented the fire from spreading throughout the house.

“That’s what the doors are for,” he said.

The woman, who complained of tightness in her chest, was taken to St. John West Shore Hospital as a precaution, Pietrick said. A female police officer who checked the rest of the house for possible victims was treated at the hospital for minor smoke inhalation and later released, according to Capt. Guy Turner of the Westlake Police Department.

In addition to the $40,000 in damage to the structure, about $5,000 of property inside the house was also damaged, Pietrick said.

The fire was the ninth Westlake house fire of the year, the fire chief said. Last year, 38 house fires occurred in the city.