The structure fire at 926 West Illinois Street has rendered the two-story apartment building a total loss.
The blaze was quashed by the Evansville Fire Department at about 6:20 Wednesday morning. No bystanders were injured nor were other buildings damaged. The building had been empty due to a previous gas leak.
Unlike many other fires, police know exactly what caused it — because the person who started it waited at the scene.
“When they got on scene, flames were through the roof, they did encounter one person coming out of the building,” said Fire Department Division Chief Mike Larson. "That was a previous occupant before this particular apartment was closed…”
Sgt. Nick Winsett with the Evansville police department said the 22-year-old male admitted he was in the building before the fire.
“… from there, he was taken to EPD headquarters, questioned about what happened, that sort of thing. We came to the conclusion that he was the one who actually started the fire.”
He was charged with a Class B misdemeanor of criminal mischief and treated for minor injuries — burns he sustained trying to put the fire out.
“I don't think there was power at the structure at the time,” Winsett said. “So in order to keep warm and have light, he had like a candle that fell over into some debris and started the fire on the 23rd — and this morning, as well.”
Winsett says this is one way fires erupt in abandoned structures each winter — homeless individuals avoiding the elements.
“We have a big homeless population in Evansville. And a lot of times they will seek out abandoned structures, homes, that sort of thing to start fires, and not to burn the place down. But just to keep warm. And that is a big problem in the wintertime for us.”
The United Caring Services Shelter in Evansville will be open through the winter months. The doors open at 7 p.m. at 324 North West 6th Street.
The Fire Details according to the Fire Department
“This morning shortly after 4:30 a.m., dispatchers received a phone call for a possible structure fire in the 900 block of West Illinois, called in by passerby.
Firefighters were leaving the fire station on North Fourth Avenue, which is about a block away. As they were pulling out the fire station, they saw flames from the fire station. So they radio incoming counties that this would indeed be a working structure fire.
When they got on scene, flames were through the roof, they did encounter one person coming out of the building. That was a previous occupant before this particular apartment was closed from two other instances we had within the last about 30 to 45 days, I believe in December, we had a gas leak at the same address, which was the primary reason why they vacated that structure.
And then also, a week or so ago, I believe we had another fire on the second floor of the same building. So this particular person said there was nobody else inside.
Firefighters tried to make access to the third floor where the fire had started. Intense flames drove them back down the stairs, they realized that this was not going to be something that they could get to for an offensive attack, or through the interior.
Our incident commander decided that we would do a defensive-type attack from the exterior at least initially, to get the fire under control. So that's where we ended up putting our ladders up, flowing large amounts of water into the structure and ‘darkened’ it down.
And then they were able to get inside and finish extinguishing the fire. Obviously, this morning being cold with all the ice we had on the roads, the back roads around that particular structure were extremely slick and icy. It didn't really hamper the firefighters' progress to get into the building, but they had to be just a little bit more careful so they wouldn't obviously fall down and get hurt and then obviously not be able to get inside and do their job.
So other than that, I believe it was maybe just shy of two hours when we actually did consider the structure to be extinguished. … So police department was on scene and they did have a person of interest that they were interviewing.” — Division Chief Mike Larson