On Thursday Morning, Oct. 17, Leann Braden was alone in the house located near the University of Evansville.
She was upstairs when she heard a loud "bang." That banging was a pair of unidentified individuals alerting her to the fire by pounding on the front door.
“When I ran out, my adrenaline was pumping and I fell in the fire, so I had to get back up and then run out again,” she said. “Whoever the two guys were banging on this house — they helped me get out and then they left.”
She received a minor burn on her neck and leg.
At the time, Vanderburg County Central Dispatch received several calls reporting a house on fire, according to the Evansville Fire Department (EFD). The fire was under control within 15 minutes of arrival.
Fire officials are looking for witnesses to the Thursday morning fire at the 1500 block of Lincoln Avenue in Evansville. The fire forced the relocation of several residents.
Displaced tenant Nicholas Merrill spoke with Red Cross Employee Dakota East about available financial services, while standing before the charred rear entrance of his home.
East told Merrill it could take 24 to 48 hours to hear from the Red Cross. “Some of our case workers are down in North Carolina and Florida right now, so they might be a little backlogged.”
Merrill wasn’t home at the time. He said the landlord of the home is relocating affected tenants to another house. Most of their belongings are safe, but it will be at least a few weeks before they can come home.
The power is turned off at the house, but not the disconnected garage-turned apartment on the same property. Merrill said there are three residents in his “unit.”
The Evansville Fire Department is reporting six displaced by the incident.
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