PEORIA, Ill. – Three Peoria firefighters were injured battling a house fire that was determined to be caused by arson.
Firefighters were dispatched to 810 West Richmond at 12:17 a.m. Sunday. They arrived to find heavy fire coming from the two-story residence and extending to a house next door. They began to extinguish the fire as they made entry and extinguished the fire next door.
Crews had to evacuate the house because the fire had spread to the attic above them and had gone through the roof resulting in a partial roof collapse. The fire venting from the roof re-ignited the fire next door. Heavy smoke and fire prevented firefighters from making a second entry into the building.
A ladder truck was then set up and a majority the blaze was knocked down, allowing crews to re-enter the residence and extinguish the rest of the fire.
A Peoria Fire Department investigator on the scene determined the cause of the blaze was arson.
Damage to both houses were determined to be a total loss
Fire department officials say two of the injured firefighters were transported for treatment but no further information on any of their conditions was released.
There were no civilian injuries.
