Jan. 15--ALTON -- Investigators Monday carefully picked through the rubble of a house that burned and collapsed over the weekend, searching for evidence indicating how the fire ignited.
"The fire was hotter than a normal fire. It was not consistent with a fire that smoldered; it is more consistent with suspicious activity," Chief Bernie Sebold of the Alton Fire Department said regarding the Sunday morning blaze at 1111 E. Seventh St.
"We are just treating it at this time as a suspicious fire," Sebold said. "It is fortunate that people got out at the adjacent structures. We could have lost three structures and multiple occupants, especially due to the time of day."
The fire also damaged two structures on either side of the house and broke a natural gas line meter, requiring Ameren workers to dig up a sidewalk to reach the line and turn off the supply. Until then, a gas-fueled flame burned underneath the house debris, similar to a pilot light.
A resident of the duplex, next-door to the west of the house, had looked out the window, saw the flames and ran outside, calling 911 at 4:39 a.m. Sunday, Sebold said. The person knocked on the door of the other side of the duplex, waking the residents and alerting them to the threatening fire.
Spurred by winds Sunday morning, the flames and radiating heat from the fire also heavily damaged the duplex, at 1105-07 E. Seventh St., which likely will have to be demolished, Sebold said. Monday, firefighters called Illinois American Water Co. to come to the duplex to turn off its water supply, as water was leaking inside.
Heat exposure from the fire also melted siding off one side of the home at 1115 E. Seventh St., east of the burned house, Sebold said.
He said the owner of the two-story, 1,241-square-foot frame house, built in 1923, was in the process of moving out; however, the name the person provided him does not correspond with the owner listed in Alton Township Assessor's Office or Madison County records.
The owner's name in the public records is David Pence; its value is listed as $12,210.
The fire and resulting building collapse did not injure any firefighters or occupants of the neighboring homes, Sebold said. With the burned house now a pile of rubble above a limestone wall, authorities did not believe anyone was inside.
He could not say for certain Monday morning, though, that no one had been inside the building during the fire.
"We won't know 100 percent until they dig it out," Sebold said, regarding anyone who might have been in the burning house and buried under its debris. "They weren't supposed to be there."
He said the house was not insured.
About the resident, he said: "She still had personal belongings -- clothing, some furniture and appliances -- in the house."
A cause and origin team consisting of an Alton firefighter, police officer and investigator and canine unit from the Illinois State Fire Marshal's Office came to the site Monday morning. Sebold expected the team to complete its investigation Monday.
A police officer and firefighter were at the property all day Sunday and through the night until investigators arrived.
"We did not want to allow a breach in our investigation," he said.
Sebold said Alton firefighters arrived at the fire at 4:43 a.m. Sunday.
"The first and second floors, front to rear, were fully involved in fire," he said. "It was already starting to extend to the duplex, and the siding was melting at 1115" E. Seventh St.
"The firefighters started putting water on the side of 1107, as the exposure from the fire was imminent," he said.
The firefighters also were dousing the burning house itself, using a pumper and ladder truck.
Alton called in a second alarm to summon mutual aid from the Wood River and East Alton fire departments, which brought a bucket truck and pumper, respectively, to help fight the flames. Four off-duty Alton firefighters also were called to man the second ladder truck.
Fueling firefighters' suspicions about the fast-burning fire being arson, Sebold said Battalion Chief David Eichen radioed at 4:58 a.m. that the house just had collapsed.
"The first floor had collapsed, bringing the whole structure down at 4:56 a.m.," Sebold said. "Within 15 minutes or so of the call, it collapsed already. That is highly unusual."
Sebold said firefighters extinguished the fire by 7 a.m. Sunday. At about 1 p.m., a Public Works Department employee brought a track hoe to move the debris to the rear of the property.
"The second-floor wall and roof of the structure would have fallen on 1115 (E. Seventh St.)," Sebold said.
Copyright 2013 - The Telegraph, Alton, Ill.
