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Crews Battle House Fire in Galesburg
POSTED 9:45am, UPDATED 10:53am 8/28/08 Galesburg firefighters and police responded to a fire Thursday morning that damaged a home on the city's west side.

Authorities were called to the house at 1613 West Main Street, at West Main and Bandy, around 9:20 am Thursday, and Galesburg Fire Battalion Chief Brad Stevenson says the home was fully engulfed in flames when firefighters and police arrived on scene.

Stevenson tells WGIL the fire started in the back of the home in its kitchen, and crews went to work right away making sure no one was home. "We sent in an attack crew, and a search crew right away, because we had no knowledge of if there was someone inside or not," Stevenson said. "There was some concern as to, maybe, the house wasn't even occupied, and then, of course, the possibility that someone did, in fact, live there. We didn't really have any indications from the outside until we got in and made a search."

Stevenson says it turns out the homeowner, Janet Williams, wasn't home at the time fire broke out, but was seen arriving after the fire was extinguished.

A lightning strike occurred just before the fire was called in, but Stevenson says it's not clear if that had anything to do with the blaze.

Officials say a cat inside the home died in the fire.

The fire department had the blaze under control in about five minutes. Crews are still investigating.






(WGIL News Photos by Will Stevenson)
08 27 08 by Newsroom
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