March 05--Reports of a fully involved house fire at 11:30 p.m. Sunday on the southeast corner of Washington Avenue and Richardson Street stretched the St. Joseph Fire Department. The abandoned Victorian, two-story brick house was only four blocks away from a major fire in the 1800 block of Dewey Avenue.
Both fires' origins are deemed to be suspicious because they were in abandoned structures, said Steve Henrichson, a fire inspector. The department will be investigating both structure fires Monday.
Residents who have abandoned structures near their homes should pay attention to who's coming around their neighborhood, warned Fire Chief Mike Dalsing. The chief directed the attack to keep the Victorian house fire from spreading to a second empty house on Washington Avenue. Neighbors stood in the Washington Park Library yard watching the flames shoot 80 feet in the air.
Two firefighters maneuvered the Ladder 5 bucket between tree limbs so they could pour thousands of gallons of water in an effort to keep the flames from eating the wooden duplex immediately south of the Victorian house. Other units brought hose lines to the front and back of the brick house to keep flames from spreading.
The Victorian house was a total loss, Mr. Henrichson said.
The fire department had to suspend emergency medical service Sunday evening into the beginning of Monday morning.
A number of fire department units were still involved in putting out hot spots and cleaning up from the fire on Dewey Avenue when the Washington Avenue fire was reported. Battalion Chief Russell Moore released several units on Dewey Avenue to respond to the new fire.
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