Officers warn residents of fire
Published 11:17 pm Friday, February 22, 2013
Firefighters inspect the damage at a Friday morning fire on Lee Street.
Two Suffolk police officers are being credited with warning five residents, including three children, that their house was on fire Friday morning.
Officers traced the smell of smoke to a home on Lee Street that had flames coming from underneath the house and shooting up an exterior wall, according to a city press release.
Suffolk firefighters battled two blazes within 10 hours Thursday night and Friday morning. This one on Battery Avenue displaced one.
The officers contacted dispatch at 8:18 a.m. to bring firefighters to the scene and banged on the front door to alert the sleeping occupants of the downstairs apartment — two elderly, disabled adults, according to the release. The officers then proceeded upstairs to the second-floor apartment, where they rescued three children, ages 7 months, 2 years and 11 years.
The structure suffered minimal fire damage, according to the release. A total of six adults and three children are being assisted by the Hampton Roads chapter of the American Red Cross. There were no injuries.
In a separate fire Thursday night on nearby Battery Avenue, a vacant home that was under renovation burned and damaged two adjacent homes. It was called in at 10:48 p.m., and units arrived five minutes later to find heavy smoke and flames coming from the rear of the structure.
The fire marshal’s office is investigating the cause of the fire.
