Area fires

Area firefighters — and the local American Red Cross chapter — had a busy day Tuesday, with residential fires in rural Paulding County and the village of Wren in southwest Van Wert County. Several area fire departments were called out to each fire, while the Red Cross assisted firefighters, as well as residents of a house at 2232 Ohio 114 in Paulding County (above) that caught fire Tuesday afternoon. Not long after returning from that fire, a number of fire departments and the Red Cross were called out at a little after 9 p.m. Tuesday for a mobile home fire in Wren (below), as well as help displaced residents of the home. (Red Cross photo above; Beth Marchek/for the VW independent below)