Firefighters from East Liverpool point up towards smoke emitting from the roof of a vacant structure Saturday evening in Liverpool Township. (Photo by Stephanie Ujhelyi)

LACROFT — Jacob Russell began his duties, after being named the new acting fire chief for Liverpool Township with a Saturday night structure fire.

It was all hands on deck when firefighters responded shortly after 6:30 p.m. to 2249 Hunter Avenue, after receiving numerous calls regarding the smell of smoke from neighbors.

While Russell led the actual firefight in the structure’s interior, his predecessor Mike Bahen led the charge on the exterior.

The current township fire chief is suspended pending possible policy violations.

After dispatching a police officer to the scene, where he reported the basement of the structure was fully involved, crews from the township and East Liverpool squashed that quickly.

However, smoke emitting from the upper levels proved to be more daunting.

With additional mutual aid being needed from Calcutta and Glenmoor, which both provided tanker trucks and two firefighters,

Newell fire was brought over into Ohio to standby on station for Liverpool Township, while West Point fire stood by for them at their own station.

Eventually, Russell also called for an aerial truck to combat a fire under the roof, which along with the second floor were at the risk of collapse making combating that particular section of the fire more difficult because of the risks.

The cause is unknown. There are no utilities on at the house but Russell neighbors had reported that squatters had taken up residence in the structure, which contained signs of such activity although unoccupied.

Crews finally were able to clear the scene around 12:30 a.m. Sunday with Newell firefighters’ assistance dealing with some hot spots.

Russell estimated the loss to the structure and contents to be around $30,000. There are no plans to reach out to the state fire marshal at this time, since officials who owns the property. It remains under investigation.