A group home for special needs residents was evacuated twice Wednesday due to reports of possible fires, and a separate fire destroyed a car and damaged a residence.
Paint Creek Joint EMS/Fire District Lt. Branden Jackman said the district received the first call from 116 Taylor Drive, which he said serves as a group home for MRDD residents, in Hillsboro at 3:28 p.m.
Upon arrival Jackman said firefighters found smoke in the laundry room area, then after checking around opened the door to a mechanical room and found a burnt smell. He said part of a blower motor on a furnace had overheated and produced heavy smoke that got into the HVAC system.
He said all the residents were evacuated and there were no injuries.
Jackman said all EMS units in the county were placed on standby in case of an actual fire, but they were not needed.
The Highland County Emergency Management Agency and Hillsboro Police Department assisted firefighters at the scene.
The second call to 116 Taylor Drive came at 6:35 p.m. and once again the residents were evacuated. But this time Jackman said it was a false alarm.
He said that as far as Paint Creek personnel could determine, someone had apparently been using a clothes dryer and the humidity caused steam that someone mistook for smoke.
There were no injuries and no damage from either incident.
At 9:56 p.m. Wednesday, Paint Creek was dispatched to an apartment at 131 Holmes Street, Apartment A, where a vehicle registered to Cassie Martin was fully involved in flames when officers arrived on the scene.
Jackman said the vehicle was so close to the apartment that the siding was melted off the front of the building, but no fire entered the structure.
The people riding in the car said they were having trouble with it as they were heading, according to Jackman, who said the fire started from somewhere in the engine compartment.
The car was a total loss, but there were no injuries.
The Hillsboro Police Department assisted at the scene.
Reach Jeff Gilliland at 937-402-2522.
