March 1, 2016
By Paul Joseph, Paragon Communications News Director –
Two Clinton homes burned in separate fires within minutes of each other. One older home was a total loss and the other was heavily damaged.
According to fire officials, the first one, the vacant home, was determined to have been set by arson.
Interim Fire Chief Barry Dehart says the first call came in about 9:52 Sunday night and just as fire fighters were leaving the scene of the fire in the 400 block of North 14th Street, they were dispatched to the second one in the 1100 block of Gary Boulevard about 12:19 am, Monday morning.
The home on North 14th was totally engulfed in flames when fire fighters arrived and is owned by Pedro Chavez and was being used for storage. Dehart says the house was all boarded up. He says the fire appeared to have been set from inside, possibly a back bedroom and that it was fairly easily to determine that it was arson.
The second home appears to have started accidentally from a cigarette. It’s owned by Buzzy Hyman and the Jason Franco family was living there at the time of the fire. Dehart says the state fire marshal also toured the home and determined there was nothing suspicious with the fire and that no one was home at the time of the blaze.
Nearby homes and structures were never endangered and Dehart says no one was injured in either of the fires.
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