By STEVE FRY
Topeka Capital-Journal (Kansas)
Copyright 2006 The Topeka Capital-Journal
Three Topeka firefighters were searching inside a burning west central Topeka house Tuesday morning when the second-story floor collapsed, dumping them to the floor below.
The three had finished searching for occupants and had started to extinguish the blaze when the floor gave way, said Shift Commander George Rocha.
The three, Capt. Eric Bauer, Lt. Fred Eigenman and firefighter Jacob Schrader, weren’t injured, Rocha said. They fell about eight feet but walked out of the house at 1007 S.W. Plass.
“They took a little tumble, but they’re OK,” Rocha said. Bauer, Eigenman and Schrader were examined at the scene by American Medical Response paramedics, but no injuries were found.
A firefighter standing outside the house had singed insulation on the shoulders of his fire gear.
The fire was reported at 9:01 a.m., and four fire companies were sent to the house followed by an extra company, Rocha said. The fire appeared to start in the south part of the living room on the first floor, he said.
A cause for the fire hadn’t been determined on Tuesday, although Rocha said there weren’t any utilities connected to the house. Neighbors reported the man who had lived there had entered a hospital about four years ago and hadn’t returned. The neighbors said transients had been seen entering and leaving the house.
The green one-and-a-half-story frame structure was built in about 1900 and had an appraised value of $16,300. The fire destroyed it, Rocha said.
Aside from the five fire companies sent to home, the department’s fire and rescue unit and the fire investigation office also responded to the alarm. Rocha said a total of about 15 firefighters were called to the fire.
Some trucks stood side-by-side on Plass, and other vehicles were parked in the middle of S.W. 10th. During the fire, Topeka police diverted traffic around a two-block stretch of S.W. 10th from MacVicar to Woodward.
When firefighters arrived, there were quite a lot of flames showing, especially from the south side, said Topeka Fire Department Deputy Chief Dave Sterbenz.
Vinyl siding on a house about 15 feet to the south, at 1011 S.W. Plass, sustained some heat damage. The rehabilitated structure is owned by Chuck Wilson.
Firefighters collapsed a brick chimney to keep it from toppling on the Wilson house, Rocha said.