Ypsilanti firefighters battle ‘extensive’ blaze in severely hot weather

By John Counts Crime and courts reporter

Posted on Fri, Jun 29, 2012 : 5:57 p.m.

The Ypsilanti Fire Department was dispatched to a single-family house fire on the 800 block of Monroe Avenue in Ypsilanti at 11:30 a.m. Friday.

“Luckily, the woman who lived there got out of the house,” said Capt. Dan Cain, who described the fire as “extensive.”

The elderly woman was uninjured and is staying with family because the house is uninhabitable. The fire spread from the living room to an exterior porch, Cain said.

It took fire crews an hour to extinguish it. It wasn’t just the blaze that was dangerous for firefighters, though.

“Not only was the fire hot, but this heat is dangerous,” Cain said, referring to the 90 plus degree weather the last two days.

The cause of the fire has been ruled accidental.

“(The woman) noticed some sparks coming from a fan that she had running in the living room,” Cain said.

Fire departments from Pittsfield Township, Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti Township also responded to the fire for mutual aid.

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