Saturday, May 22, 2010 At 0521 this morning the Aurora, OH Fire Department responded to an automatic fire alarm at 521 Brighton Dr. The first arriving units found heavy smoke showing with the occupants of the house evacuated. After confirming that everyone was out and completing a 360 of the structure crews entered the structure through the front door to attempt to locate the fire. They observed fire from a hallway wall and extinguished it moving forward into the kitchen and then into the basement where more fire was found. After extinguishing the fire in the basement they returned upstairs through the kitchen and found that the floor was unstable. When the smoke cleared they observed that the floor had dropped approximately three inches due to the failure of the OSB floor joists. Some were completely burnt and others were missing some of the OSB which allowed the fire to enter the cold air return and spread to the second floor. An additional layer of plywood under a marble floor in the kitchen may have helped to support the weight and prevented total failure.

The first picture shows the kitchen floor with a 1.75" hose going across the sagging floor and under the wall.
The second picture shows the OSB joists.