2008 Woodie Awards
House fire on corner of W. Pierce and McArthur causes severe damage
Andrew Thomason
Issue date: 3/19/08 Section: News
A house on Macomb's 200 block of West Pierce Street caught fire this morning. According to Fire Chief Andy Taylor, the fire department was called to the scene at approximately 2:30 a.m.
"You could see the glow of the fire from the fire station," said Taylor. "When we got here it was fully engulfed, from the roof the floor and it was venting out the walls."
According to Taylor, there were no occupants at the time of the fire.
Taylor said the cause is still unknown, but the department will continue to investigate. Slightly before 10 a.m. the Illinois State Fire Marshall arrived to assist. At the time the house was still smoldering but there were no visible flames.
The inquiry could take some time because the investigators could not go into the house due to safety issues. In the back half of the house, the roof and entire second floor had collapsed into the basement, and one wall was leaning inward.
"Its only a matter of time before that wall comes down," Taylor said.
The fire was so severe, the fire department had to do a callback, in which they contact all off duty firefighters to assist.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
Shontell
posted 3/19/08 @ 11:15 AM CST
wow that was a really bad fire. my family members stay on peirce street i hope it wasnt there house
AngelD
posted 3/19/08 @ 12:43 PM CST
I live only a few houses down from this and yeah, it was quite a fire. It seemed that they'd start to get it under control and then it would flare up again. (Continued…)
joe
posted 3/19/08 @ 7:24 PM CST
Isn't there like a stat that 75% of all house fires with no occupants are deliberately set?
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