news-record.com

BURLINGTON (MCT) — Fire investigators sifted through the remains of a fire Tuesday that destroyed a twostory home on Grace Avenue just after midnight.

The Alamance County Fire Task Force, which is made up of investigators from the fire and police departments, as well as the State Bureau of Investigation, were searching for clues about what caused the blaze.

Firefighters were called to 624 Grace Ave. at about 12:31 a.m. Tuesday. It was the second time in the last two months that firefighters doused a fire at that residence. The first one happened at about 12:15 a.m. on Jan. 14 and started when the cord on a space heater overheated.

After that fire, which caused fire damage to one room and smoke and water damage to the rest of the house, the city of Burlington condemned the house and no one was living in it Tuesday morning, said Burlington Fire Deputy Chief Michael Willets. Fire officials didn't know whether the owners of the house, Mark and Zena Ward, actually lived in the house in January or whether it was a rental.

When firefighters arrived at the house Tuesday morning, the house was fully engulfed in flames, which were coming from the front of the home and the attic.

Fire officials think that the builders of the house, built in 1925, used a balloon-frame construction, which doesn't include fire stops and makes it easier for flames to spread from one floor to the next.

The fire was so large that firefighters first had to focus on protecting the homes around it.

No one was injured. There were 15 firefighters on the scene.

The damage to the house is extensive. The roof collapsed onto the second floor, and investigators are trying to pinpoint where the fire started and what caused it.