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Clutter, Cold Temperatures Give Lansing Firefighters Trouble

Posted: 3:03 PM Jan 22, 2013
Reporter: Anthony Sabella

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Marina Lukic was asleep, Tuesday morning, when her mom noticed smoke coming from the home next door.
After realizing the house was on fire, Lukic and her family quickly called 911.

"We couldn't even breathe because of how much smoke was coming into our house," said Lukic. "We came outside and this whole entire side of the house was on fire and the smoke was shooting out really bad."

Firefighters arrived just before 9 a.m., aggressively attacking the fire. That's when the problems started.

"They were having a hard time getting into the structure due to the occupant's belongings," said Eric Weber, Public Information Officer for the Lansing Fire Department.

Clutter at every entrance blocked firefighters from going deep inside the home. Still, they were able to determine no one was there and later investigations put the source of the fire in the kitchen. The house was deemed a total loss.

"We have called in Mint City Excavating to come in and start to systematically take the house down so we don't have any structural issues, or safety issues to our personnel," said Weber.

On top of troubles getting into the home, firefighters faced another obstacle; sub-zero temperatures.

"Our equipment has froze up, we've had nozzles freeze up," said Weber. "Our personal respiratory devices have had frost and ice on the shields."

With help from a CATA bus for warmth and a warming trailer for equipment, crews got the fire out at around 10:30 a.m and because the house had to be torn down, some questions, like the exact cause of the fire, won't be answered.