Eleven hours after firefighters knocked down a fire at a North Douglas home, a fire sprung up again at the house.
At about 2:30 a.m. Friday, Capital City Fire/Rescue responded to the house at 5580 North Douglas Highway to find that a smoldering fire underneath debris had reignited inside of a void space between a closet and the kitchen on the second floor, according to a CCFR Facebook post.
The small fire came after the house caught fire and became fully engulfed in flames on Thursday morning. The owners of the house, Bob and Joyce Lupro, escaped unharmed but the 38-year-old house is a total loss, CCFR posted on Facebook on Thursday evening. Neither fire is suspicious, according to CCFR, but the cause of the fire has not yet been determined.
Fire marshals are currently investigating the blazes. Bob Lupro told the Empire on Thursday he doesn’t know how the fire started but speculated that it might have been electrical.
The second fire appears to have begun as the fire smoldered and then spread through the exposed wooden structure of the house — the drywall came off in the fire earlier in the day. The broken windows allowed air in, which fanned the flames, according to CCFR’s post. Nobody was home when the second fire broke out.
One firefighter suffered a minor injury while responding to the second fire, but didn’t need any medical attention and was “doing fine,” CCFR’s post stated.
As fire marshals continue to investigate the fire, they’re asking that anyone with photos or videos of the fire contact the fire marshals at 586-5322.
This in 2, CL
• Contact reporter Alex McCarthy at amccarthy@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @akmccarthy.
