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Fire
damages Pierre
rental home
By
LETA NOLAN CHILDERS
Capital Journal Staff
Friday,
August 05, 2005
A fire
Thursday afternoon caused extensive damage to parts of a rental house in the 300
block of East Missouri Avenue.
Greg Baker, Pierre Volunteer Fire Chief, said the fire started in the kitchen of
the basement apartment.
“The renter was going to cook something and turned on the wrong burner,”
said Baker. “The burner he turned on had a plastic cutting board and some
other utensils on it. They got hot enough to ignite and that was the start of
it.”
The house, owned by John and Rita Linn, was a “balloon” structure, according
to Baker, one that did not have interior fire stoppers in it.
Once the fire started in the basement, it followed a course up the stairwell,
reaching the second story of the building.
The firemen were on the scene for about 2.5 hours.
Baker said working the fire was a cooperative effort on the part of many
volunteers, including Mary Tveidt of the Red Cross, the ambulance crew and Fort
Pierre Fire Chief Carl Rathbun, who was a first responder who evacuated the
building immediately.
The residents of the apartment house have been given temporary sanctuary by the
Red Cross. Monetary donations can be donated by calling the Red Cross at
945-0400.
Story by: LETA
NOLAN CHILDERS
Capital Journal, Pierre, SD
www.capitaljournal.com
For more information about the Pierre Fire
Department, e-mail the PFD
webmaster.
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