St. Johnsbury Structure Fire

Details: Created on Friday, 28 October 2016 19:05; Written by Tyler Hall

SAINT JOHNSBURY - A structure fire broke out around 8:00a.m. this morning on Elm St. in St. Johnsbury. "We weren't too far away so we blue lighted all the way over here and got here as the place was engulfed," says St. Johnsbury Police Department Patrol Officer, Adrian Hahr.

Saint Johnsbury Fire Department, along with Danville, Littleton, Barnet and Lyndonville all responded to the scene.

"When I arrived on scene, the entire porch was fully engulfed. Power lines that had broken off the building were sparking in the street," says Hahr.

Officials say that the fire broke out on the first floor apartments porch and expanded up into the third floor, causing heavy fire, water and smoke damage.

"Right now it doesn't appear suspicious. However, we are not one-hundred percent comfortable giving what we believe is the cause of the fire until we do a little bit more investigation," says St. Johnsbury Fire Chief, Troy Ruggles.

Tenants have told officials that they believe the fire could have been due to a home made heater.

In regards to the setup, Hahr states, "A tenant did talk to me about a setup he had to heat his porch he described it as a shell of a TV, lined with aluminum foil with candles inside and he believes that's how the fire started."

Over ten tenants live in the building and have all been accounted for at this time.

The fire was fully contained around 12:30pm this afternoon.