SABINA, Ohio — The Village of Sabina council chambers were nearly filled on Tuesday evening, in the wake of a fire that engulfed a structure at Sabina Park and a water main break that left residents without water for hours. Due to the hardships at the beginning of the week, members of the long-running neighborhood watch sat down and discussed ways to better the community.
The group is helmed by Roger Starnes of Sabina, who has been leading the watch for some time in conjunction with Sabina Police Chief Joe Noland as a way to not only keep watch over the community, but also for a way for the community to get involved.
Of the things touched on at the recent meeting, Noland provided details about the Sept. 15 park fire and reiterated that the investigation was still ongoing at the time of the meeting.
“The fire started about, I believe it was about 10:53 (Sunday night),” said Noland. “We could see some sparks and some flames. About five minutes after that, we could see someone walking away from it. Just by happenstance, three minutes later, one of our officers was driving by and noticed it, went in there, checked the area to make sure nobody was in there or anything, and called the fire department.”
According to Noland, the fire was started on a composite picnic table with plastic that acted almost like an accelerant. He also said that the roof was made of fiberglass and that the fire had most likely climbed up the plywood and flashed over the structure’s roof.
Also mentioned at the meeting was that the Sabina police had images of people leaving the fire, as well as images from residents’ Ring doorbells, but as of press time there were no suspects.
Tuesday’s water main break at the construction site on North Howard Street/Dakin Chapel Road was also discussed. The boil advisory has been lifted, but Noland provided more details on the water main break.
According to Noland, the incident occurred as a guardrail post was being placed, when the crew hit an eight-inch main line, which due to its size and the pressure within it, had quickly drained the water tower. The village was in contact with the EPA and had to shut off the water at that time, but the water was ultimately restored by 10:30 to 11 p.m.
Of the neighborhood watch, Starnes said, “I think even going back to our first meetings is to let people know that people are watching them and care about their neighbor’s property. That’s huge and that’s really what we’re all trying to do.”
The group has been meeting for some time but, according to Noland and Starnes, had not had a meeting over the summer due to scheduling difficulties. Tuesday’s meeting was not scheduled in response to the fire and water main break, it had been scheduled well beforehand.
The group suggested giving residents sections of the city to look after, and encouraged the community to take part in looking out for their neighbors.
Starnes said, “I printed a full Sabina neighborhood print. And I made a grid of the entire town. And I said these are all the areas that we’ve got.”
“We’re the people that are gonna be trying to help you out,” said Noland of the watch. “And we need you to help us out. So we’re trying to get as much community buy-in as we can. And that’s one of the reasons Roger and I had talked about starting this, is just to make Sabina better. You know, it’s a small community. Most everybody knows everybody and everybody knows what’s going on.”
The watch is set to meet again on Oct. 8 at 7 p.m. All community members are encouraged to attend.
