A playground set behind a vacant home in South Bend goes up in flames
Posted: Aug 25, 2011 2:15 AM EDT | Updated: Nov 6, 2014 6:47 AM EDT
South Bend, IN. - Firefighters are investigating another fire in South Bend. A playground set caught fire right behind a vacant house just off O'brien and Werwinski Streets around 8p.m. tonight.
A dog house connected to a swing set went up in flames and firefighters says this could have turned out a lot worse if they had not have gotten to the house when they did.
Leslie Dudley lives on O'brien Street just across the street from where the fire started. He says he was watching TV when he saw thick, black smoke coming from behind the house.
"There was a lot of smoke and a lot of flames," says Dudley.
That's when Dudley called 911, but he says he did not realize where the flames were coming from until he went outside.
"At first I thought it was a house on fire, and like I said before I thought it was on Johnson Street."
Repsonding firefighters says when they arrived at the home they saw flames as tall as the house and were worried the house would also catch fire.
"There was a lot of flames. A large dog house attached to a wooden play swing and the roof were fully engulfed in flames and it was starting to melt the aluminium siding on the house," says Capt. Fredrick Jaronik of the South Bend Fire Department.
However, firefighters were able to get the fire under control before it spread.
"There is a wooden fence right next to it and it could have traveled up that way, but thank God it happened early and it was reported early."
Dudley says he is just glad no one is living in the home and that no one was hurt.
Fire officials are still investigating the cause of the fire, but says they are not ruling out vandalism done by kids in the neighborhood.