Burlington, IA- The Burlington Fire Department responded to multiple structure fires over the weekend.
According to a news release, at 5:34 PM Saturday, March 18th, the Burlington and West Burlington Fire departments responded to 412 S. Marshall Street in Burlington for a reported house fire. Firefighters arrived at 5:38 PM to find heavy smoke coming from the back of the two-story house.
Firefighters located and extinguished a fire in the kitchen. The surrounding rooms suffered heat and water damage, with smoke damage throughout the house.
Damage is estimated at $70,000 to the house and its contents.
The cause of the fire is considered accidental and was due to combustible items stored too close to the stovetop. It is believed that a pet jumped onto the stove and inadvertently turned on a burner.
At 1:53 AM Sunday, March 19th the Burlington and West Burlington fire Departments responded to a report of a structure fire at the Lincolnville Motel, 1605 Mount Pleasant Street, in Burlington.
Firefighters arrived at 1:58 AM to find flames and smoke showing from a room on the east side. Police officers were in the process of evacuating occupants from other nearby rooms.
Firefighters were able to contain the fire damage to one motel room and the attic area directly above, but other rooms sustained smoke and water damage.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation and is not considered suspicious.
At 7:03 PM Sunday, March 19th, the Burlington and West Burlington Fire Departments responded to a reported structure fire at 727 Wightman Street in Burlington. Burlington Police officers arrived first and assisted with locating and evacuating the occupant.
Firefighters arrived at 7:08 PM to find a single-family home and travel trailer fully engulfed in flames.
Firefighters had the fire extinguished by 8:24 PM. Damage estimates are still being assessed, but both the travel trailer and house are a total loss. The Red Cross was called for victim assistance. One pet escaped the house and was later recovered without injury.
The fire damaged one automobile, as well as the house at 723 Wightman Street sustained heat damage to two windows. The cause of the fire was due to open burning outside the residence. The fire spread to the travel trailer and then to the house.
The property owner was issued a citation for violating the city’s open burning ordinance.
