Early Thursday morning, firefighters in Gilboa battled a fire that resulted in one person dead. The Putnam County Coroner has confirmed, the owner of the house, Jason Mansfield, was the victim in the fire.
The 911 call came in right around midnight late Wednesday night into Thursday morning. The entire house at 140 Franklin St. in Gilboa was engulfed in flames. One of the neighbors at 138 Franklin St. said everything happened so fast when sheriff’s deputies arrived at the fire.
"Next thing you know, three or four cops are out front," said Simon Duling, a neighbor of Mansfield's. "We didn’t know what was going on, looked out the window and had flames all up over our house and everything. What was it four—three or four cops come barging in pulling us out of the house that’s all we saw was this whole thing was engulfed. We couldn’t even see our driveway, our vehicles, everything was basically gone. I’m surprised our house made it. But yeah, it was pretty nasty."
Duling and his family's home suffered damage to the garage and smoke damage inside the house. Mansfield’s home is considered a total loss. Duling said he was good friends with Mansfield and saw him on a weekly basis.
"He lived alone, it was him and his cat," said Duling. "He would come over, he used to hang out with us all the time. He’d come over probably once, twice a week have dinner and stuff with us. He was a really good friend. He didn’t really have much to do."
Several fire departments were on hand early Thursday morning to help with the fire. The state fire marshal’s office was called in to investigate. The cause is still undetermined and remains under investigation.
Mansfield’s death makes the fourth death by fire in our area this year. Norise Cousey lost his life in a Lima apartment fire. While Heather and Destiny Money died in a Perry Township house fire.
Media Release from the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office: On February 19th, 2020 at 11:59 p.m., the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call regarding a structure fire in the 100 block of Franklin St. Gilboa, Ohio. Fire Dept., EMS, and law enforcement were requested to the scene upon arrival, observed the residence of 140 Franklin St. fully engulfed and deemed a complete loss. One fatality was later confirmed at this location after Fire Fighters found remains of a body inside the residence. Confirmation of the identification of the victim is still pending at this time.
The fire then spread to a neighboring residence, 138 Franklin St. causing structural damage to the garage. A family of four of 138 Franklin St. were safely evacuated from the home and were assisted by the American Red Cross. On scene of the fire was the Gilboa Fire Dept., Pandora Fire Dept., Ottawa Fire Dept., and Leipsic Fire Dept. Also assisting was the Putnam County EMS, Pandora EMS, Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, Pandora Police Dept., Ohio State Fire Marshal’s Office and the Putnam County Coroner.
This matter remains under investigation by the Ohio State Fire Marshal’s Office.
