PINCKARD – A lingering cough and a cup of water may have been what saved the lives of two Pinckard residents on Monday from a fire in a historic home.
Authorities said the more-than-century-old home of Andy and Beth Anderson, known as the Gissendaner home on state Highway 134, went up in flames around 3 a.m. and continued to smoke throughout the day.
The home is next door to the Pinckard Volunteer Fire Department.
Beth Anderson said Andy Anderson woke up to get a glass of water to help a lingering cough when he noticed the fire burning in the kitchen of the residence.
While the fire appeared extinguished on Monday, Pinckard Fire Chief Ted Matysiski had firefighters on duty to monitor the smoke to prevent the fire from re-igniting.
The cause of the fire remained under investigation.
Beth Anderson said her great-great-grandfather built the home sometime between 1901 and 1903.
Some heirlooms – including pictures of her ancestors and one antique frame – were saved on Monday.
The American flag also survived, she said.
“Had it not been for that cough that I had been begging Andy to get seen about, then I don’t know that we would have gotten out of there,” said Beth, who with Andy owns Andy’s Restaurant on Highway 231.
“This house was built so intricately and six generations have lived here, but I’m a firm believer that God doesn’t put anything more on you than you can bear. For whatever reason, it was meant for us to be able to stand here and watch all this go up into flames.”
Pinckard Fire Sgt. Stephen Gibbons said the fire was at least the second this year that occurred near the fire station.
In Monday’s case, Matysiski said he was thankful the fire did take place nearby.
“When you have a volunteer fire department, you don’t have a full-time staff and the fire fighters have other jobs. In this case, we were able to get up pretty quick and come here, and luckily we had several other agencies to respond,” he said.
“We’re paged out like anyone else when a fire occurs, and because of our staff other departments are automatically paged.”
Matysiski said rescue departments from Marley Mill, Newton and Midland City responded.
Beth Anderson said her family planned to rebuild the residence
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