Proximity to heat caused gas to ignite in basement

A two-alarm blaze that badly damaged a Hopewell Township home this morning erupted in a pile of wood stored too close to a basement wood stove.

“When you stack wood near a heat source, over time the heat will break down the wood,” said Eureka Volunteer Fire Chief Ira Walker Jr.  “It’s not the wood itself that (initially) burns—the wood gives off a gas,” he said, which is what ignites first.