Valley Street fire deemed accidental

<span>CHESTER -- A Monday evening house fire at the corner of Valley and Church streets in Chester has been ruled out as arson by investigators.</span>

<span>Chester Fire Chief Marty Bert said a wood-burning stove started the fire in the one-story structure, located at 814 Valley St., which is owned by Jim McFadden. McFadden was not at home at the time of the fire, but his dog - Maggie - was and did not survive.</span>

<span>"The only casualty was a dog, a black lab," Bert said.</span>

<span>Bert said Arson Investigator Bruce Dahlem of the State Fire Marshal's Office was called in to investigate as a precaution. The neighborhood is a section of Chester that Bert said has seen three arson cases in the last 10 years - including one almost a month to the day ago.</span>

<span>"With the other arson case right there, we wanted to make sure we were right on our investigation," said Bert, referencing the Oct. 18 fire at 413 Church Street, which is almost a block away from Monday's incident.</span>

<span>A 16-year-old juvenile was arrested and charged in connection with the Church Street fire and faces a dispositional hearing next month, according to previous statements to the Herald Tribune by Randolph County State's Attorney Jeremy Walker.</span>

<span>Bert said the juvenile, who pleaded guilty to setting the blaze, was released to the custody of his parents.</span>

<span>Bert said the home is a total loss with smoke and fire damage. Live power lines fell and blocked initial attempts by firefighters to attack the blaze.</span>

<span>"We finally made entry through the back door and up the attic stairs," Bert said. "Most of the fire was in the attic and we had to cut holes in the roof to get to it."</span>

<span>Firefighters from Chester and Ellis Grove spent almost five hours fighting the fire in the coldest temperatures of the fall season. Steeleville firefighters were paged to provide station coverage at the Chester firehouse.</span>

<span>Temperatures dipped into the teens overnight, with the wind chill at a balmy eight degrees. Monday's low of 17 degrees was only one degree off the record set in 1989 for Nov. 17, according to the National Weather Service.</span>

<span>"Any water we sprayed was freezing right away," Bert said. "We called the (City of Chester) to put cinders down on the road. We called Steeleville in case we needed fresh manpower right away."</span>

<span>Information released on Chester Fire Department's Facebook page showed firefighters were toned out at 5:27 p.m. and were back in service at 10:15 p.m.</span>