Large fire strikes 4th Avenue home

By Thomas Nelson, tnelson@charlescitypress.com

A large fire was contained by Charles City firefighters Saturday afternoon.

At 3:11 p.m. the Charles City Fire Department responded to a call that a fire erupted on Fourth Avenue in Charles City. The house fire filled the street with smoke that could be seen from City Hall.

Charles City firefighters were able to contain the flames and there were no injuries reported. Charles City police and State Patrol troopers helped cordon off the street from traffic.

Firefighters used a ladder to climb onto the top of the house and several went inside with protective gear on.

A lot of time firefighters make a hole on the top of a home to vent the smoke and the heat out of the house, said Charles City firefighter Curt Teeter said.

By  4:17 p.m. the fire was out and the firefighters returned to the station.

The fire might have been started by a discarded cigarette, Teeter said.

“One of the residents was smoking on the front porch, and possibly dropped a cigarette or spark from a cigarette (that) possibly started it,” he said.

That is what the residents thought happened, Teeter said.

“All of the fire was on the outside of the house,” Teeter said.

Firefighters went inside the house, and opened windows to ventilate the home, Teeter said. The fire didn’t spread to inside the house.

“I believe at different times we had five guys inside the house, maybe six,” Teeter said.

The fire spread quickly and burned much of the outside of the house.

“You’ve got a 20 mph, 30 mph wind that’s probably fueling it,” Teeter said. “Fire doubles in size about every 30 seconds.”

If a fire has enough fuel and oxygen accompanied by something fanning it, it can get real big really quick, Teeter said.

The family was able to get out before the fire spread. The couple in the home has no insurance for the property, Teeter said.

“The smoke alarms were sounding when we got there, so that’s a great thing,” Teeter said.