Fire takes N. Erie St. home

7/5/2013

Fire destroyed a North Erie Street house early today and damaged a home next door that officials briefly feared was occupied.

Battalion Chief Dennis Facer, of the Toledo Fire Department, said he summoned a second engine company to the scene at 3028 N. Erie because of the possibility that someone was trapped at neighboring 3026 N. Erie.

The fire, reported at 3:19 a.m., jumped to the second house’s roof and spread to its attic, but nobody proved to be home. The fire was declared under control shortly before 4 a.m.

Chief Facer declared the fire’s cause suspicious and summoned an arson investigator. City officials ordered the ruins of 3028 N. Erie torn down as a public-safety hazard, while damage to the neighboring house was estimated at $10,000 to the structure and $5,000 to contents.

Lucas County land records list the owner of 3026 N. Erie as Jason R. Lindsey, while the destroyed house belonged to Michael J. Rose of Oklahoma City.