(Photos by Randy M. Cauthron) State Fire Marshall Dave Schipper, who was one of the first on scene at a house fire half way between Spencer and Fostoria Thursday morning, reassured eighth grader, Courtney Heikens and her younger sister, Leah, a second grader, that they did exactly what they were supposed to do when they smelled smoke and heard the fire alarm sound. Home alone, with dog, Zoey, the two girls went outside immediately and called 911.

Daily Reporter Staff

The Heikens family is due for a little luck -- the good kind.

First came the tornado outbreak of June 2004, which took out a barn on the farm.

Another storm, two years later, took down half of their garage.

And there's the December burglars who broke into the house a couple of years ago.

"Every time we turn around we've got something to battle, but we keep plugging away," Laura Heikens said.

It was a basement fire that sent emergency crews to the Heikens residence, between Spencer and Fostoria, at 11 a.m. Thursday.

"There was a dehumidifier, it looks like, that malfunctioned," Fostoria Fire Chief Tim Kelsch said. "There was a mattress right next to it. That caught on fire. There's a little bit of damage in the basement in that corner where those items were located. Theres not extensive damage in the house. We have some smoke damage downstairs and a little bit of smoke and soot damage on the first floor and the second floor. It's nothing terribly extreme."

Laura and her husband, Justin, have three children. Jacob, the family's 11-year-old, was in Spencer golfing. Courtney, 13, was at home watching 7-year-old Leah.

"When I got here, I saw black smoke coming out of the main floor," Laura Heikens said. "I went up on the deck to see if I could stick my head in there and it was just all full of black smoke. We waited and they were having trouble locating the fire."

The girls did exactly the right thing, according to David Schipper. He's a state fire marshall who assists as a firefighter with the Spencer Fire Department. He was about two miles away when the call came in and was first on the scene.

Leah Heikens clings to her mothers leg while watching firefighters from Fostoria, Spencer and Everly work to put out the fire in her two-story home at 1985 300th St.

"When I got here, the two little girls were standing outside with the dog," Schipper said. "I went over to them and we sent them over to a corner where their meeting place is. It's where they were headed when I pulled in."

Area children learn about the EDITH (Exit Drills In The Home) program at school as part of Fire Prevention Week.

"They had working smoke detectors here, which we don't see in a lot of fatality fires," Schipper said. "So the smoke detectors worked, they smelled the smoke and they got out. They called 911 and they went to their meeting place. When we got here, we knew everybody was out of the home. Then all we have to do is worry about fighting the fire. We don't have a rescue situation and we just worry about our lives at that point. They did fabulous for young kids and that's why we talk to them during Fire Prevention Week and all year long about that."

Kelsch said family should be able to stay in the house once clean-up is complete. He also credited a system among area fire departments, whose members work together during daytime hours.

"This time of day, it is kind of difficult for a lot of fire departments for manpower," Kelsch said. "We've got an automatic mutual aid system whenever there is a structure fire."

Laura Heikens found the incident reassuring in one way:

"When you're out here in the country, you feel so vulnerable because you are so far from fire departments," she said. "This reassures me that we're pretty safe out here. We have good responders."

Firefighters from Fostoria, Spencer and Everly discuss the best plan of attack to contain the fire and minimize the damage in the basement of a rural Fostoria home Thursday.

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