Two fires in two days completely engulfed a shed and a house in different areas of Richmond earlier this week.
On Wednesday at about 5 p.m., Andrew Caras received a call from his wife who was helping their daughter deliver newspapers nearby at the 3400 block of Springfield Drive.
"She calls me up and said there's a lot of smoke here (at this house), do you want to come down and have a look?"
Caras got into his car and drove a couple of blocks to the scene where he was met by a full-blown blaze.
"There were flames on the roof, and one window blew out on the upper floor," said Caras.
Eight to 10 firefighters were extinguishing the fire from outside through the second story window, and broke open the front door. He said the inside was "very bright" and guessed the basement was burning as well.
At 6 p.m. the night prior, No. 4 Rd. resident Roland Hoegler was at home when he heard the unmistakable sound of fire truck sirens coupled with flashing lights flicker-ing through his window.
"I went outside and had a look and walked around and saw there was a big fireball," said Hoegler.
Two backyards over, he saw smoke billowing out of what he described as a "big shed," with flames shooting up 40-feet in the air.
"It (the shed) was about 20-feet wide and 10-feet tall, with a sloped roof. (It must have been) something in there that caught fire."
There were seven large fire trucks parked outside his property, near the Salvation Army Rotary Hospice House, and firefighters dragged hose to the back to fight the fire that eventually reduced the structure to a "few two by fours." The adjoining house on the property seemed fine, he said.
Richmond Fire-Rescue acting investigator Forrest Weissler was about to enter the Springfield property at press time to assess the damage of the house, which was empty and had no one living in at the time of the incident. He said there were no injuries in either of the cases, and although the investigation is still ongoing, a spontaneous fire in an unoccupied house is unlikely. A full report is expected some time next week.
