HAMILTON, Ohio -- Firefighters came up empty searching for someone possibly trapped inside a house fire Friday evening.
As it turned out, he wasn't there.
The fire was reported at about 5:47 p.m. inside a home on North 10th Street. Firefighters found heavy smoke and fire on the fire floor, according to Hamilton Fire Chief Mark Mercer. That blocked the regular exit.
Two people, a man and a woman, were able to escape from the second floor, Mercer said. They told fire crews there may be another man inside, but they didn't know where he was.
Firefighters couldn't find him. According to Mercer, that man wasn't at the scene when crews arrived.
The man who escaped from the second floor was injured; paramedics took him to a hospital for treatment.
Mercer said it was a good thing he and the woman had an alternate escape route. He encouraged everyone to have a safety plan with at least two ways out from every room of their home.
Investigators are looking into the cause of the fire. The home is considered a total loss, according to WCPO media partner the Journal-News.
