GRANVILLE – An attempt to keep warm ended in a tragedy for a homeless man in Granville Friday morning when a fire broke out in a van where the man, and a female companion, had taken shelter.
State Trooper Michael Mazza, an investigator assigned to the state fire marshal’s office, said that the couple had been using a gas grill inside a vehicle at Hansen’s Garage on Silver Street for heating and cooking and flames from the grill ignited “bedding material.”
He said that the couple had more than one propane tank and said that propane from the tanks “did contribute to the fire.”
Mazza reports that responding emergency personnel found the man to be deceased but the woman, he said, suffered only minor “burn and smoke injuries.”
She was transported to Noble Hospital for treatment.
The fire in the van the couple was staying in did spread to other vehicles and then to the building at the garage but no serious damage to the building was reported. The garage was open for business this morning.
Granville volunteer firefighters responded to the blaze and firefighters from nearby communities also responded after the fire spread.
Mazza said that he did not know if the couple regularly stayed in the van but did say, “There are indications that they had stayed there in the past.”
Mazza said that he did not know the names of the victims.
