A house sustained smoke damage from a fire beneath it Tuesday, Aug. 9, in the 900 block of 6th Ave.
Police and firefighters responded at about 7:30 p.m. to find “copious amounts of smoke” drifting from the building, according to Battalion Chief Randy Whitfield, who was an engineer at the incident.
Whitfield said firefighters had to cut a hole in the floor to access the blaze, which burned some floor joists and caused smoke damage inside the residence. He said the fire burned an area about 15-by-15 feet on the northwest corner of the house. The cause was likely electrical, he said.
According to Whitfield, residents had recently installed an air conditioner, which resulted in a popped circuit breaker earlier in the evening. It was reset, he said, but shortly thereafter, “smoke started rolling out.”
The firefighting effort was hampered by a downpour from a thunderstorm, in which the rain fell in sheets, Whitfield said.
“It just flat soaked us,” he said. “(Police Sgt.) Ryan Cummings should get a medal. He was directing traffic and helping out, and he just stayed out in that. Water was running off of him.”