Crime & Safety
UPDATED: Two Cats, Bird Died From Basement Fire
One man was taken out of the home while the fire was burning, but he was treated and released at the scene. Firefighters were able to save two other cats.
Update: 7:55 p.m., Wednesday, June 27
Two cats were saved from a house that experienced a basement fire Wednesday afternoon, but two other cats and a bird died as a result of the fire, Orland Fire Chief Ken Brucki wrote in an email.
Original post:
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Orland firefighters, and others from nearby fire districts, took on a basement fire Wednesday afternoon that didn’t cause injuries.
The was called about a house fire in the 14700 block of West Avenue around 11:50 a.m. Fire teams found flames in the house’s basement that was catching on different items within the space, Orland Fire Chief Ken Brucki said at the scene.
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“The initial fire was knocked down relatively quick but it took us a little while after that because we had a lot of smoldering debris,” Brucki said. “That smoke makes it difficult to identify where hotspots are. We needed a little bit of time to evacuate the smoke out of there to get the true extent of what the fire was.”
The initial flames were quenched within about 10 minutes of fire teams arriving, and it took another 20 minutes to overhaul burning debris and make sure the fire didn’t spread further, Brucki said.
“The overhaul side of things is they need to take each piece out and inspect that and make sure there’s no extension going up the walls,” Cinquepalmi said. “We didn’t have any extension into the attic. The guys did a good job of getting down to the basement pretty quick.”
The fire had spread throughout the basement because of items throughout the space that had ignited, Orland Fire Battalion Chief Nick Cinquepalmi said at the scene.
Firefighters had full control of the fire within 40 minutes off arriving, Brucki said.
The homeowner was removed from the house as firefighters worked on the flames, Brucki said. He was not injured during the fire. The homeowner has pets, and firefighters were still looking for them as of 12:50 p.m.
The fire’s cause hasn’t been determined yet, and is under investigation, Brucki said.
Orland was assisted by firefighters from Palos, Homer and Frankfort fire protection districts. Off-duty command staff from Orland were called in to help as well with other emergency calls, while the house fire was dealt with.
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