Fire in Cape downtown destroys apartments

Flames shot through the roof and thick black smoke filled the street Thursday afternoon as fire destroyed a two-story brick building at 225 S. Spanish St. in Cape Girardeau.

The lone injury was sustained by a firefighter, Capt. Ed Serandos, who was treated for a back injury at a local hospital and released.

"He was making an attack in the attic and a portion of the roof collapsed," said new fire chief Richard Ennis, marking only his fourth day on the job.

However, a dog did perish in the fire.

All four fire stations and the department's new pumper responded to the fire. The departments from Jackson, East County Fire District and Scott City provided mutual aid.

Ennis said the fire began at the rear of the second floor. The exact location has not been determined. The fire marshal was called in to investigate.

The house sustained major damage to the roof and upstairs and smoke and water damage on the first floor. Battalion chief Bob Kembel said the building was a total loss. The estimate of the damage is about $85,000.

According to the fire department, the building had four, possibly five apartments in it. Some people who live nearby said there may have been more.

Residents in the building were evacuated safely.

A list of residents of the buildings was not available. Ennis said some residents told him they had family or friends to stay with temporarily. Those who did not were referred to the Red Cross for temporary shelter.

The fire department was notified of the fire at 12:48 p.m. Firefighters remained at the scene until about 5:30.

Two women claimed to have noticed the fire and called 911.

"Me and my sister-in-law were bringing my little girl to her grandma's," said Dana Cureton of Cape Girardeau, who sat on the grass on the south end of the block watching the firefighters. "I saw the smoke coming out, but I didn't see any fire trucks, so I called 911."

While flames were shooting through the building and smoke was billowing throughout the block, the fire spread to the roof of the house next door to the north, 221 S. Spanish St., melting the shingles on the roof and doing minor damage in the attic. That building sustained some damage to the roof and attic, and some heat and smoke damage upstairs. It also had minor smoke and water damage to the downstairs.

"The guys did an excellent job stopping that fire," Kembel said.

Spreading fire

Ennis said fire also spread to the house to the south but did no damage there.

"We were able to quickly put out that fire," assistant chief Mark Hasheider said. "The homes are less than 10 feet apart, and because of the wind, it did create some hazard."

Ennis said firefighters were putting water on the burning building within two minutes of the first truck arriving on the scene. Although onlookers commented that it seemed as if too much time lapsed before they began applying water, Ennis said that the immediate response was to fight the fire from the inside.

"Nobody can see that from the outside," he said. "It's what we always try to do. We knocked a lot of the fire down from the inside."

When firefighters arrived, the fire was venting from the rear second story window into the alleyway and into the structure to the north, the chief said. They laid the initial line through the alley and up the interior stairs to fight the fire from the inside. A second line was laid to fight the fire that ignited in the house to the north.

"We were attempting as we normally do to make an interior attack," Ennis said. "The fire had progressed into the attic. We had to back the crew out because it became unsafe. Then we attacked from the outside with the deluge gun."

Wilbur Driver Luton, known around the neighborhood on South Spanish Street as "Boots," is glad he didn't talk the owner of the burned-up building out of insuring it. He said he took the premium payment to the insurance company just a few days ago.

Thursday, Luton sat on the steps of the building next door and watched firemen direct streams of water on the flames shooting from the building he used to own but now manages for Bessie Chamberlain of Poplar Bluff.

Luton sold the building to Chamberlain about 20 years ago, he said, and until Thursday afternoon lived in apartment No. 1.

"I tried to convince her she did not need insurance," Luton said. "I'd be in deep trouble now, wouldn't I?"

lredeffer@semissourian.com

335-6611 extension 160