FAIRVIEW TWP — This winter’s bitter temperatures may be the root cause of a smoking wire in a mobile home Wednesday morning.

Chief Charles Barnes of the Petrolia Volunteer Fire Department said an animal chewed off the insulated covering on wiring in the mobile home at 1391 Hooker Road, causing it to smoke.

Barnes said the cold weather likely caused vermin to seek shelter in the mobile home’s walls.

He said firefighters couldn’t detect any heat or smoke until a third visit that morning because nothing was disturbing the wiring the first two times.

Barnes said activity such as people walking across the floor could vibrate the exposed wires, making it smoke.

When one of the home’s occupants moved the stove, smoke came out of the wall.

“We investigated further,” Barnes said.

Firefighters cut a hole in the wall to isolate the problem before a fire could start. There was an erroneous report Wednesday morning that flames were found in the wall.

Barnes said electrical issues can be hard to detect and prevent because people can’t rip out walls just to verify the condition of wiring without evidence of a problem.

“There’s no way to check it,” he said.

The third 911 call came in at 8:19 a.m. Crews cleared the scene at 9:20 a.m. The prior 911 calls were at 5 and 6:10 a.m.

The Bruin and Chicora volunteer fire departments assisted Petrolia.