Fire On Our Street

On Sunday I returned home from the grocery store to find our road blocked by squad cars.  I got out and talked to them and asked if I could go to our house (which I could see and point to from the car). They let me in, I figured there was a 911 (for health reasons) or something, but to my surprise when I got to my house I found that a house just down a few houses on the other side of the street was on fire.

Thankfully the house was empty at the time. It had been for sale for a while (I considered it a while back, as did Terry and Jamie), but the renters had left earlier in the month and the house sat vacant.  I think, from the looks of the damage on the outside, that the fire started in the basement, probably the furnace or water heater, and made it's way onto the upper floors. The firefighters made short work of it, after unburying the fire hydrant which was under a huge pile of snow.  In my non-professional opinion it looks like the house can be saved, and doesn't appear to be a total loss.

Here's the news clip:

City of Madison fire investigators are trying to determine what caused a fire in an unoccupied home Sunday afternoon on Madison's west side.

Firefighters were called to a two-story, single-family home at 4:20 p.m. Firefighters arrived to find smoke pouring from the eaves along the roof. They forced entry through the front door and encountered heavy smoke throughout the first floor of the home. As they reached the basement stairs, they saw flames coming up the steps. They put out the fire in less than 10 minutes.

Police and fire investigators think the fire started in the basement.

Firefighters were able to contain the fire damage to the basement, but there is smoke damage throughout the house. Damages are estimated at about $75,000.