Fire damaged a home in the 400 block of Paul Street early Monday morning. Chillicothe Fire Fighters received the call about 8:10 am and arrived in about 4 minutes to find flames at the back of the house. No one was home at the time of the fire and heavy smoke was coming from the area of the back door. The fire crew disconnected the electric and during their investigation they found a heat tape had been attached to a broken water pipe. The heat tape was plugged into two extension cords and had shorted, resulting in the fire.
The fire crew was on the scene for about an hour.
