Fire burns empty house

The fire was “sky-high.”

That’s what Captain Tania Daffron of the Bloomington Fire Department said a Bloomington police officer told her about a fire reported at about 9:30 p.m. Monday night on the 1000 block of East Miller Drive.

By the time responders arrived, the incident was deemed a “defensive fire,” meaning the fire had to be fought from the outside.

Mendy Kossmann, 44, lives at 1002 East Miller Drive, adjacent to where the fire
occurred.

Kossman said she remembered her daughter yelling to her “the house is on fire,” and thought she was talking about their own house.

Kossmann said the flames were as tall as the trees.

The fire was stopped before spreading to a residence east of the building and the
apartments west of the building.

Sparks were landing on Kossman’s detached garage and the siding on some apartment buildings was melting at Huntington Gardens Place, an apartment complex.

At 10:08 p.m., firefighters were searching for any remaining embers after extinguishing the main fire.

A police detective and BFD investigators have both responded to the incident.

All street access was blocked off for the surrounding area.

Responders had reason to believe the incident was suspicious.

“We are calling it a suspicious fire because buildings under construction generally don’t have electricity,” Daffron said.

Sam Jones-Opara, who lives nearby, said the building was a brand-new house and was almost finished being built. It looked like they were about to put in the drywall,
he said.

The owner was contacted when the fire broke out and was on the site, but declined to comment.

Dennis Barbosa