Fire chief: Monday morning fire ‘had help’

A house on F Street NW was destroyed by a fire Monday morning.

Photo courtesy Christi Shaw

Linton Fire Chief Brad Sparks said the Monday morning fire at a dilapidated house on NW F Street Monday morning is being investigated with the help of the Linton Police Department.

“It had help,” Sparks said of the fire, which is believed to started just before 8 a.m. Monday morning. “Just last Monday at the Board of Works meeting we gave a bid to tear that house down. We’ve been working with the homeowner for about two years, trying to get a hold of them and get it cleaned up. We finally bid it out and it burned.”

The house was almost completely rotted, without much of the roof left and the only covering remaining was the asbestos siding on the outside.

“There was electricity going to the house, but it was at the meter,” Sparks explained. “We are working with the Linton Police Department on it, so if anyone does have any information, contact Paul Clark at the Linton Police Department or myself.”

Due to the house being uninhabitable, there was no one inside and no injuries were reported. The only other damage Sparks said he noticed after surveying the area was damage to the siding across the street due to the heat.

Initially, Sparks said the department was on scene for nearly two hours, and has had to return to the scene three more times to drop an additional 1,000 gallons of water on it or more each time.

The Linton Police Department assisted at the scene, as well as Linton Utilities.

“The gas and water department brought their backhoe and pushed the house in, so it wouldn’t fall outward. The electric department had to cut the line at the front of the house from the pole and stood by,” Sparks noted.