July 25--Arson investigators were called to the scene of an explosion and fire at a vacant Akron house on the city's north side Thursday morning.
There was no one in the residence when it caught fire, officials said.
The blaze on Uhler Avenue, called into the fire department at 10:36 a.m., could be seen by responders from the Y-bridge, fire Capt. Rod Stewart said.
"There was heavy fire on the "A" side," he said -- the front of a building in firefighter lingo.
Stewart said investigators had not determined there had been an explosion, but said witnesses described hearing "a kaboom" before they saw flames. He noted it was strange to get that kind of call in the middle of the day.
The blaze was confined to the property located next door to the home of Natural Hunka Kaboom, a frequent speaker at Akron City Council meetings. He made headlines last year when the aluminum walking stick bearing his name prompted the evacuation of Akron City Hall.
Strangely reminiscent of that incident, the burning home had a black-lettered sign on the front of the house that read "Future home Kaboom house."
Kaboom said Thursday he had been thinking about buying the property to open a group home.
"It was just a joke I put there for the bank people," Kaboom said.
He said a bank owned the vacant property and that inspectors had visited last week.
"They were supposed to come back and board the place up, but they didn't come back," he said.
Kaboom, who called himself the neighborhood block watch captain, said he was concerned for the welfare of another neighbor, 86-year-old Doris Muster.
"I looked out my window and saw a lot of fire coming out of there," Kaboom said of the burning house.
He said Muster, who lives close to the burned property, didn't respond to his knocking, so he kicked in her door to get her out of the house.
"I saved her life," he said.
Muster said she was just coming down the stairs when "somebody was pulling me out of the house."
"I knew it was you," she told Kaboom.
After making sure the elderly woman was unhurt, officers on the scene went back in the house to get her dog.
"Officers went in and got her pet out as a precaution," Akron police Lt. Cindy Christman said at the scene.
Muster, who cradled her dog, Chloe, as she watched firefighters from the front porch of a nearby home, said she didn't hear the explosion because one of her hearing aids is broken.
"They were banging on my door, and I couldn't hear them," she said.
Neighbor Connie Brill walked over as Muster sat on the stoop and handed her a cold bottle of water. Brill said strangers frequently come through the neighborhood.
"There are always people running around here," Brill said.
The cause of the fire had not been determined while the department members were still on the scene, but investigators did rule out that the house was used to make methamphetamines.
"I'd hate to speculate, but our arson investigators are here looking for an accelerant," Stewart said.
The structure was deemed a total loss, he said.
"I don't know what's salvageable in there," he said.
Kathy Antoniotti can be reached at 330-996-3565 or [email protected].
Copyright 2013 - The Akron Beacon Journal
