ROSS COUNTY, Ohio — A woman who was reported to have been killed Tuesday in a Ross County house fire has not been found.
Multiple township fire departments responded to reports of a fire on route 772 shortly after 10 a.m., Tuesday.
According to officials, crews responded to the scene and found heavy smoke rolling from a garage. Deputies on the scene said they talked to a man who said that he and his female companion were living inside the garage. Law enforcement said the man became frantic and told them that the woman never came out of the garage after the fire started.
Huntington and Scioto Township crews worked to battle the blaze, but the structure was a total loss, officials reported.
Fire crews, according to reports, sifted through the rubble but found no human remains. The deputy told the frantic man that a body could not be found inside the garage, but the man continued to insist that the woman never came out, reports read.
A local woman said she checked on the man after the fire.
“Went by myself. My mom talked to the dude. He claimed he was ‘burnt clear up’ [and] had to get out because he was ‘burning alive,’” she said. “Not a scratch on him. He was toasted, not from the garage fire, though.”
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, and no further details were released.
