No one injured in Buchanan fire
Published 1:09 pm Sunday, November 24, 2019
Buchanan Township firefighters look at the back of a smoking three-apartment house on the corner of Third and Main streets in Buchanan that caught fire Sunday morning. (Leader photo/BEAU BROCKETT JR.)
Buchanan and Buchanan Township firefighters tend to a burning three-apartment building in Buchanan on the corner of Main and Third streets. Two hours after a 911 call was made around 9 a.m., crews from four different departments were tending to the final flames. (Leader photo/BEAU BROCKETT JR.)
A Buchanan firefighter watches firehouse water from the top of a firetruck’s ladder be sprayed down into the open roof of a Buchanan house. All residents, save a cat, left the aparmtent complex safely. (Leader photo/BEAU BROCKETT JR.)
Galien and Buchanan firefighters look at the caved-in roof of a Buchanan house on the corner of Third and Main streets. Two hours earlier, the Buchanan fire department was called to tend to a fire that began at the back of the house and spread to other parts of the building. (Leader photo/BEAU BROCKETT JR.)
BUCHANAN — A Sunday morning Buchanan fire that brought in four fire departments, two ambulance services, American Red Cross and one police department resulted in three badly damaged apartments.
No injuries were sustained by residents or firefighters, although one resident’s cat was in the building during the fire, said Buchanan police officer Dave Capron.
The fire began around 9 a.m. at a house on the corner of Third and Main streets, he said. Fire departments from Bertrand Township, Buchanan Township and Galien joined Buchanan’s fire department and spent about two hours extinguishing the fire.
The cause of the fire was is not yet determined, said Matt Remmo, assistant fire chief for Bertrand Township.
The fire began at the back of the apartment complex, leading to a partially burned-out ground floor inside. About half the building’s third-story roof collapsed after, Remmo said.
The fire spread to other parts of the home and caused yellow-brown smoke to billow out of the house, cloaking parts of the city in a haze.
Neighborhood residents and passersby paused to watch about 20 firefighters knock down the fire, some with coffee mugs in hand.
At one point, three firehoses were used, one from the left of the building, one from the right and one from the top of a firetruck ladder, pointing down into the collapsed roof.
Around 11:30 a.m., the fire departments began the hours-long process of spraying foam to expand their sprayed water’s impact, pulling ceilings down and checking for small fires.
