Fire Quickly Spreads To 3 Homes On Detroit's West Side
DETROIT (WWJ) - Officials say a quick burning fire spread to three homes on Detroit's west side, completely destroying two of the houses.
The fire took off early Thursday morning on Stanley and Linwood streets, in a neighborhood near the I-94 and I-96 interchange.
Flames quickly tore through the first house before spreading to a home next door. As fire consumed the second home, the flames reached out to a third neighboring house. Firefighters arrived on the scene and were able to save the third home by using a technique known as a "rain curtain." The first two homes are a total loss.
West side: Fire and a lot of smoke. 2 vacant houses on Stanley nr Linwood and I-94 are gone; DFD saves a 3d. @WWJ950 pic.twitter.com/5h5KBYyUiJ
— Mike Campbell (@reportermikec) April 7, 2016
Officials say two of the homes were vacant. The other, which was saved, was unoccupied but under construction.
David Golson, who lives nearby, said he's hoping someone will come along and remove the wreckage.
"Another vacant house is burnt to rubble," he said. "There's going to sit, the rubble and everything is going to be sitting there. So, I don't know, the city needs to come put some kind of action through to clean the debris up."
Golson said he's not surprised by the fire, but that doesn't make it any easier to deal with the depreciation of his community.
"There's no telling in this neighborhood because it's drug infested so, it probably was someone in there squatting," he told WWJ's Mike Campbell. "It's kind of cold, they probably lit something to try to stay warm and it caught ablaze."
No injuries were reported.
A cause of the fire remains under investigation.