The Effingham Fire Department battled an attic fire at a residence on Pembroke Street just before 9:00pm Monday night.
The department was originally paged for a chimney fire at the residence of Darrell Gordon at 8:40pm. Upon arrival, fire crews discovered flames coming through the roof. They determined that the fire had started in the attic and broke through the ceiling rather than the chimney as previously thought. Fire crews worked on pulling the ceiling as well as working outside to contain the fire. The blaze was contained to the attic, though most of the home suffered water and smoke damage. Additionally, pieces of ceiling had fallen on fire crews. Thankfully, no one was injured.
After investigating, fire crews determined that a flue pipe for the fireplace had collapsed and allowed heated gases to escape. A total of between $50,000 and $60,000 in damaged was caused by the fire, smoke, and water. The residence has been deemed uninhabitable and cleanup is set to start today.