At 5:43 p.m. on Saturday, a residential structure fire was reported at 7910 SE Center St.
Initial reports from 9-1-1 callers was that a garbage can next to a home was on fire, and possibly extending to the walls.
The first arriving engine company reported that the garage was fully involved in fire. That crew mounted an aggressive interior attack on the fire to prevent extension to the rest of the house. Additional crews immediately searched the garage and the residence to check for potential victims. Nobody was found. There were no injuries in this fire.
11 minutes later, while the SE Center St. fire incident was still in progress, a second residential structure fire was dispatched at 5:54 p.m. This fire was on the other side of the city, at 11027 SW 64th Ave. Crews were assigned to both the interior to investigate and extinguish the fire, which was suspected to be in the attic space, as well as the roof to ventilate fire gasses from inside the structure. A search of the interior was all-clear. No injuries occurred as a result of this incident.
High winds and dry conditions can accelerate a fire’s growth during suppression efforts. A "wind-driven" fire was what firefighters encountered tonight in the SE Center St fire. Once a door is opened or a window is burned out, wind can push fire more rapidly through a structure than under normal conditions.
The cause of both fires is still under investigation.