Click here to see Jesse Dhein’s photos of firefighters responding to the house fire on Tuesday, July 17.

Firefighters from the Southeast Sixth Street station in Marcy-Holmes were busy on Tuesday, July 17, with two serious fires in the neighborhood just a few hours apart.

Shortly after 2 pm, a fire was reported at 319 SE Fifth St., at the home of Marcy residents Ted Tucker and Penny Petersen. Tucker was the editor of the “Southeast” paper for many years, and Petersen is a historic preservationist who has published many articles about historic properties in Marcy-Holmes, as well as the book Hiding in Plain Sight, a history of the neighborhood.

No one was home at the time the fire started, but friends house-sitting next door say the fire must have started during the short time starting around 2 p.m., when they walked to a nearby store. When they returned, the back part of the house was in flames. Fire department officials have not yet commented, but the fire is believed to have started on the back deck or in the kitchen, which is in the back of the house.

Damage to the back half of the house is extensive, and Tucker and Petersen are currently staying with friends nearby. One of the couple’s cats died in the fire, though three other cats were found safe.

Later the same day, at approximately 7:30 p.m., firefighters were called to a second fire in the neighborhood, just three blocks away on the 300 block of Southeast Second Street, at the construction site near the Pillsbury A Mill. A pile of creosote-soaked railroad ties was on fire, sending up huge plumes of black smoke over Marcy-Holmes and charring one of the historic silos of the old Pillsbury grain elevators that are slated for demolition to make way for the East Bank Mills condominium project.

The fire occurred in what firefighter Jeremy Norton called “that empty space between the mills and the silos,” an open area in the middle of the complex where now-unused railroad tracks run between the “A” Mill and white grain silos.

While the historic site, owned by developer Schafer Richardson, is easily accessed from the street, Norton — who lives in Marcy-Holmes and led the crew that responded to both fires — said he did not think Schafer Richardson had been irresponsible in securing the site.

“There’s not really a way to close it off,” said Norton, who noted that the hot, dry weather made conditions favorable for a fire. “It’s been so hot that if there’s anything at all flammable, it can catch fire immediately,” he said.

Although the cause of the fire is under investigation, Bridge contributor, and former editor, Chris Steller was at the scene of the fire and reported that a fire captain there scoffed at the suggestion that the railroad tie fire could have started spontaneously.

Thanks to Chris Steller for his contributions to this story.

last revised: July 19, 2007

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