House fire ruled accidental

A fire that destroyed a premanufactured home in a remote corner of Exeter Township nearly a month ago has been ruled an accidental electric fire, a state police fire marshal announced Tuesday.

The fire was reported about 5:20 a.m. on Feb. 16 at 720 Hall Ave., a dead-end street off Littlefield Avenue near the R.M. Palmer Co. warehouse in the southeastern corner of the township.

The initial crews found the structure had collapsed into the basement and was engulfed by flames, Trooper Janssen Herb said.

The two occupants of the home were alerted to the fire by their dog acting strangely as well as noises coming from the enclosed porch, Herb said. They left the residence through the rear door about a minute before the house was filled with smoke.

There was a delay in reporting the fire because the residents left without their phone. A cat remains missing.

Because there were no hydrants in the vicinity, Exeter Township Fire Department called for additional tanker trucks to be dispatched from other fire companies to shuttle water to the site.

Damage was estimated at $100,000. The residents are staying in another home on the property, Herb said.

Herb said information collected by examining the scene in the weeks after the fire indicates it originated between a wooden cabinet and a wall in the office area on the enclosed porch.

“All of the evidence and information indicates that electrical activity associated with an extension cord and the items plugged into it ignited the fire,” Herb wrote in a press release.