Double blaze still under investigation

January 15, 2006

TRACY KALYTIAK/Frontiersman assistant editor

Fire authorities, earlier this week, said they had not yet decided what happened to trigger two blazes that occurred Jan. 7 just a few hours apart at a $210,000 home in Big Lake.

Firefighters from Big Lake and Meadow Lakes responded to the first fire at 4668 South Hydroplane Circle sometime around 7:30 p.m. and extinguished it within about three hours. No one was in the house at the time, but three of the owner's four cats died.

Two boys walking home from ice fishing saw smoke again coming from the five-story structure sometime around 1:30 a.m. Jan. 8 and called 911. Firefighters had that fire under control by about 4 a.m.

&#8220The insurance investigator was on the scene today and spent several hours in there with a shovel, clearing debris from the walls,” Bill Gamble, chief of the Big Lake and Meadow Lakes fire departments, said Wednesday. &#8220So far, it's inconclusive. But the investigator is leaning toward a rekindle.”

Gamble said an electrical outlet behind a cabinet in the garage appeared to be where the first fire originated, near an oil-fueled hot-water heater and furnace. Some of that oil may have permeated carpet, he said, explaining the presence of hydrocarbon accelerant found in the home after the second blaze.

&#8220We don't know how the second fire started, whether it was a rekindle or a separate fire,” he said.

The present owner of the home is involved in litigation with the previous owner over issues related to the water heater and furnace, Gamble said.

&#8220That just automatically sends up red flags for us,” he added.

The first fire damaged the home to the point where it was unlivable, Gamble previously said, but remodeling would have been possible. The second blaze rendered the home a total loss.