Firefighters Called Back To East Side Home After Flare-Up
DETROIT (WWJ) - Detroit firefighters were called back to an east side neighborhood after a house fire they thought was extinguished flared up again.
Crews initially responded around 6 a.m. Friday to the home on Beaconsfield Street, in a neighborhood just west of I-94 and Moross Road and quickly contained the fire before leaving the scene.
Just over an hour later, around 7:30 a.m., crews were called back to the scene after the fire flared up again, with flames shooting through the roof.
Neighbor Erika Jones said it sounded like something might have blown up before the fire started, and it was like nothing she's ever heard before.
"I heard a big boom sound, like an explosion, and then I heard a pop, pop, pop," Jones told WWJ's Mike Campbell. "By the time I got here, it was in flames, the front of the house. So whatever it was, was in the lower level."
Officials told WWJ the house was vacant, although neighbor Ronald Martin said that is not the case.
"Yes," it's occupied, Martin said. "He wasn't home; he's a doctor... Only thing I know is I woke up and [the house] was torched."
Regina Pitts, who lives next door, said the fire took off just after the man left for work.
"I think he leaves out the door around 6 a.m. and my brother said not too long after, that's when the house... right when he left to go to work that's when something blew up," she said.
Officials found a dog in the home's backyard, but said the animal was not injured because he was outside when the fire started.
A cause of the fire remains under investigation. Officials are expected to update the case later Friday morning.
No injuries have been reported.