By Conor Griffith
The Dominion Post
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The Morgantown Fire Department called in all of its available firefighters to battle six fires Wednesday evening and Thursday morning -- four of which have been ruled arsons.
Fire Chief Mark Caravasos said his crews were called to a porch fire, two house fires, two Dumpster fires and a street fire.
All but a fire on North Willey Street were close to one another in the Sunnyside area. They are under investigation.
Capt. Ken Tennant, of the city fire marshal’s office, said the first fire was reported at a residence off North Willey Street shortly after 7 p.m. Wednesday. The fire, which resulted in $70,000 in damages, was determined to have been caused by an electrical cord powering an air-conditioning unit overheating.
Caravasos said nearly all of the department’s 48 personnel were called in to deal with the fires.
“We sent out a general alert; we had one who was sick and another in child care so they couldn’t come,” he said, adding that every piece of firefighting equipment the department was used.
“We had a trifecta of structure fires,” Caravasos said. The chief said the next call came in at about 1 a.m. for a Dumpster fire on 4 1/2 Street, off Beechurst Avenue. A porch fire at a duplex apartment along 3rd Street was reported about 1:54 a.m. That was followed by a fire at a vacant duplex along an alley between Beechurst Avenue and the Caperton Trail at 3 a.m.
The third structure fire resulted in the general alarm being sent out, requiring all off-duty fire personnel to report in.
A Dumpster fire in the alley between Beechurst and McClane avenues, along with a pair of garbage containers on the 500 block of McClane Avenue, were reported at 1:52 and 2:46 a.m., respectively, according to a Morgantown Fire Department news release.
Tennant said the garbage containers, two Dumpsters and the porch fire and 3rd Street were intentionally set, while the fire on 6th Street is under investigation. He said investigators haven’t determined whether the fires are connected, but the fire on North Willey Street was accidental.
“There were no injuries, just a long night for the firefighters,” Caravasos said.
Although crews contained the porch and structure fires, he said $40,000 of damage occurred to the building on 3rd Street, while the boarded-up duplex suffered $20,000 damage.
The duplex near the Caperton Trail was strewn with trash, old furniture and auto parts. Much of it was covered in vines and the building adjacent to it is condemned.
All fires were extinguished by 4:45 a.m., with crews clearing the scenes shortly after.
David Friend, the owner of the house on 3rd Street, said he learned of the fire about 2:30 a.m. He said the fire on the porch left smoke damage on the first floor of the house, including a melted ceiling fan.
A crew from Mon Power arrived by noon to replace melted wiring into the house. Friend said the property was being rented, but the tenants were away for the summer. He added the house was insured and can be repaired.
“It looks a little different now,” he said.
Tennant said the fires are being investigated in conjunction with the Morgantown Police Department.
“We’re not sure if they’re connected,” he said. “If anyone knows anything, they can leave a tip because we don’t have much information at this time.”
“I hope they find whoever did this because somebody could have been killed,” Friend said. “I was on the second floor afterward and could hardly breathe, and if someone had been sleeping there. ...”
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