Birds blamed for Weisenberg chimney fire

WEISENBERG TOWNSHIP — A Weisenberg Township home was destroyed before dawn Tuesday by a fire that started with a bird’s nest.

Chief Brian Carl of the Weisenberg Volunteer Fire Department said firefighters were called about 4:45 a.m. to a chimney fire at a home on the 3900 block of Werleys Corner Road near St. Paul’s United Church of Christ. When he arrived, Carl said, fire was coming from the walls and smokestack of the modular home.

The house is built from a pair of modules fitted together and sits at the top of an 800-foot driveway that winds uphill into woods.

“The water supply was an issue,” Carl said. “It’s a very rural area there.”

Firefighters used tanker trucks to pull water from more than three miles away.

Carl said no one was hurt in the fire, but the first floor had heavy fire damage and the walk-out basement had water damage. The fire spread to a detached garage, but firefighters contained the damage to a limited area of the garage.

The bulk of the fire was out by 6 a.m., but firefighters remained at the home, extinguishing hot spots and overhauling the wrecked parts of the 1,600-square-foot structure until after 11 a.m.

The residents, an older couple, have relatives in a neighboring home and the Red Cross was called to help them deal with the aftermath of the blaze.

Carl said fire officials found evidence of nesting materials packed around a metal steam pipe that served as the home’s chimney and believe the fire started there.

— Stephanie Sigafoos and Matt Coughlin