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An early morning fire Saturday at 1929 W. Cruger Road in Washington has left a family of three without a home or its contents, according to Washington Fire Chief Mike Vaughn; no injuries were reported.
Vaughn said the call came in shortly after 7 a.m.; the first unit from the WFD arrived four minutes later.
“The house was well involved (in fire) upon our arrival and was difficult to put out due to the type of construction (the house had a balloon frame),” Vaughn said. “We found all occupants were safely out of the house, but were informed that a dog or cat may still be in the structure. Crews entered the structure twice to search for the pets, but were forced out by deteriorating conditions; the fire was fought defensively.”
Despite other media reports, Vaughn said the cause of the fire is still unknown, but it is believed to have started in the garage.
“The propane tank the PJ Star said exploded was a grill type propane cylinder that the pressure relief valve let go with the remaining propane in the tank burning off; (there was) no explosion,” Vaughn said.
Vaughn said other departments that assisted were Northern Tazewell, Germantown Hills and Eureka-Goodfield.
While Vaughn said he is still trying to get exact times of what and when things transpired in the afternoon, he said the departments last cleared the scene around 1:48 p.m..
“When we left, the house was smoldering in spots that were hard, if not impossible, to get to due to structural collapse. I informed dispatch that the house would be smoldering, but there was no danger.”
Approximately two hours after the departments cleared the house, Vaughn said someone called in saying that there were flames within the house again.
“When we arrived that time, there was a small amount of flames showing on the outside of the house and we proceeded to extinguish those as well as others we could get to,” he said. “The structural collapse hindered the ability to get to some of the smoldering debris and the type of construction (balloon frame) of the home allows for rapid fire spread throughout the building.”
After entering the house for the second time, Vaughn said a firefighter noticed what he thought was the dog under the bed.
“Crews made entry and had to extricate the dog from the water bed that had collapsed on top of (it),” he said. “The dog was transported to a 24-hour emergency medical pet clinic in Peoria by members of the WFD; it appeared to be in good shape, just cold, wet and scared.”
Vaughn said the cat escaped from the house before any crews arrived; the cat is still missing however.
While there was no explosion during the fire, Vaughn said there were some ammunition rounds in the house that went off during the course of the incident.
He said the house and its contents were total losses and an estimated the house sustained an estimated $275,000 worth of damage.
An early morning fire Saturday at 1929 W. Cruger Road in Washington has left a family of three without a home or its contents, according to Washington Fire Chief Mike Vaughn; no injuries were reported.
Vaughn said the call came in shortly after 7 a.m.; the first unit from the WFD arrived four minutes later.
“The house was well involved (in fire) upon our arrival and was difficult to put out due to the type of construction (the house had a balloon frame),” Vaughn said. “We found all occupants were safely out of the house, but were informed that a dog or cat may still be in the structure. Crews entered the structure twice to search for the pets, but were forced out by deteriorating conditions; the fire was fought defensively.”
Despite other media reports, Vaughn said the cause of the fire is still unknown, but it is believed to have started in the garage.
“The propane tank the PJ Star said exploded was a grill type propane cylinder that the pressure relief valve let go with the remaining propane in the tank burning off; (there was) no explosion,” Vaughn said.
Vaughn said other departments that assisted were Northern Tazewell, Germantown Hills and Eureka-Goodfield.
While Vaughn said he is still trying to get exact times of what and when things transpired in the afternoon, he said the departments last cleared the scene around 1:48 p.m..
“When we left, the house was smoldering in spots that were hard, if not impossible, to get to due to structural collapse. I informed dispatch that the house would be smoldering, but there was no danger.”
Approximately two hours after the departments cleared the house, Vaughn said someone called in saying that there were flames within the house again.
“When we arrived that time, there was a small amount of flames showing on the outside of the house and we proceeded to extinguish those as well as others we could get to,” he said. “The structural collapse hindered the ability to get to some of the smoldering debris and the type of construction (balloon frame) of the home allows for rapid fire spread throughout the building.”
After entering the house for the second time, Vaughn said a firefighter noticed what he thought was the dog under the bed.
“Crews made entry and had to extricate the dog from the water bed that had collapsed on top of (it),” he said. “The dog was transported to a 24-hour emergency medical pet clinic in Peoria by members of the WFD; it appeared to be in good shape, just cold, wet and scared.”
Vaughn said the cat escaped from the house before any crews arrived; the cat is still missing however.
While there was no explosion during the fire, Vaughn said there were some ammunition rounds in the house that went off during the course of the incident.
He said the house and its contents were total losses and an estimated the house sustained an estimated $275,000 worth of damage.
