Officials in Springfield, Illinois, are raising questions after three firefighters were injured battling a fire in an abandoned home in the city, according to a news report.
WICS/WRSP reported that the house was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived on scene. One firefighter fell through a collapsed floor, and two others also sustained injuries.
The report says that Springfield Fire Chief Allen Reyne noted that 12 percent of the last 50 fires the department responded to have been in abandoned homes.
The city is working to get a number of these homes demolished.
“The question is how many vacant houses do we have out there that have been boarded up and we have homeless people that break into them? Are we doing anything to stop that?” asked Alderman Ralph Hanauer. “It seems like it’s just asking for trouble because if they get cold or whatever they’re going to start a fire and then we put our firefighters in harm’s way.”
Read more HERE.
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