Erie firefighters battled a smokey house fire in windy and cold conditions late Sunday afternoon. They were called out at 4:00 PM for a fire in a three story frame house at 739 East 12th Street. The first fire crews on the scene found that the fire had a good head start. Crews started to attack the fire from the inside, but when Jeff Carroll, the Deputy Chief in command learned that the house was vacant, he evacuated the firefighters to keep them safe.
Wind was whipping and temperatures dropping as firefighters worked to stop the flames. The heaviest fire was on the second and third floors of the home. It took 45 minutes just to get the fire under control. Crews stayed on the scene for over two hours making sure that the fire would not rekindle.
Deputy Chief Carroll says the utilities were shut off in the house. He believes it's been vacant for sometime. A fire inspector will look for a cause, but chief Carroll says it's possible someone trying to stay warm in the vacant house started the fire. "That's what happens sometimes," said Carroll, "but we won't know until an investigator gets in and takes a look."
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