Homeless Woman Inadvertently Sets 2-Alarm Fire Trying To Keep Warm
DETROIT (WWJ) - Fire investigators in Detroit say a homeless woman squatting in an abandoned home accidentally started a two-alarm blaze that threatened to spread to a church.
The fire kept crews busy for hour, Friday afternoon, at West Grand Blvd. and Grand River in Detroit.
Officials said the it started at a vacant house and quickly spread — getting ominously close to Enon Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church next door, which did suffer some minor smoke damage and a few broken windows.
Charlies Sims, Chief of Arson with the Detroit Fire Department, said the homeless woman was just trying to keep warm.
"She used some gasoline to start a fire to keep warm and the fire got out of control," Sims told WWJ Newsradio 950's Stephanie Davis. "And she was actually the person who notified other people to call the fire department,"
The vacant house was still standing but appeared to be completely destroyed by the time the fire was out. "I can see almost right through it from where I'm standing," Davis reported from the scene.
Tipsters calling the WWJ newsroom said they could see smoke from miles away.
No one was hurt.