Suffolk News-Herald

An East Washington Street resident awoke Monday morning just in time to notify the fire department that she possibly had a fire in the wall next to her fireplace.

Barbara Darden, of the 2600 E. Washington Street, told Suffolk Firefighters that fire was blowing out of the fireplace Sunday night. She closed the flue in the chimney and thought no more of it — retiring for the night.

According to Suffolk Fire Capt. James T. Judkins, the woman also noticed that the wall next to the fireplace was extremely hot Sunday night, but she didn’t notify the fire department until 10:44 a.m., Monday.

&uot;When firefighters arrived, they opened the wall and found structural members smoldering and burning,&uot; said Judkins. &uot;They extinguished the fire without further problems.&uot;

Judkins said the $175,000 home sustained only $3,500 in damages, and no one was injured in the incident.

Firefighters arrived on the scene at 10: 50 AM to discover the wall behind the fire place very hot.

No fire was burning in the fireplace insert at the time. Occupant stated that she had a problem 24 hours earlier…..fire blowing out of the fireplace and closed the flue.

She noticed the wall was hot but did not call the Fire Department until this morning (1/26/04) after noticing the wall was still hot.

Firefighters opened the wall and found structural members smoldering and extinguished the fire.