East Emporia Fire burns into the evening

Emporia firefighters battled a house fire until the evening hours Monday.

Fire crews, as well as surrounding fire departments, were called to the structure fire at 332 Sylvan St. around 10:20 a.m., and they didn’t leave until later in the evening.

Homeowner Sandra Moore said she was asleep in her living room when she was woken by the fire. It was over in the corner, however, and she could not reach the blaze in its early stages to extinguish it. Moore was treated on the scene for burns to her finger and refused transport to the hospital.

“I saw the flames, and I couldn’t … it was over in the corner,” she said. “I have a lot of antique things that my great-grandmother, grandmother and mother had.”

Moore was the only occupant of the house. She had several cats in the back of the house that most likely perished in the fire.

Neighbors said they speculated Moore had been living at the residence for around 20 years.

One of Moore’s neighbors noticed smoke coming from the residence shortly before the Emporia Fire Department was notified. He helped Moore out of her house as the living room began to go up in flames.

Terri McClure, Moore’s neighbor to the south, has been living at her address for the past seven months. She said she was concerned for many of her belongings being damaged by the smoke that was thick for half of the block to the south.

McClure said she made precautions to get her family, pets and valuables out of the house for fear the fire might spread.

“I was just hurrying up trying to get what I could get out, get my grandson out of the house,” she said. “I left him in the truck and kept it running, and got my animals out of the house. I had to leave because you can’t breathe. I couldn’t breathe at my house.”

Firefighters could not get into the house because of the amount of belongings stacked inside, so they took defensive positions from outside the house.

“You just cannot get inside there,” McClure said. “The basement is completely full, the upstairs is completely full, it’s too bad. I know it’s gone.”

Fire Chief Jack Taylor said the house was packed from floor to ceiling with “stuff.”

“We’re unable to get in either the front or the back door to make an interior attack on it,” he said. “We’re having to do the best we can from the outside.”

Small leaks in the hoses caused water to pool in the intersection at Fourth Avenue and Sylvan Street. In the below-freezing temperatures, the water quickly froze and created an ice slick on the road.

One firefighter was taken by ambulance to Newman Regional Health early in the morning after slipping on the ice and suffering a leg injury.

The city of Emporia road workers were called to the intersection to spread salt and rock on the area to keep the surfaces from becoming slick. The cold was inhibitive, however, and fire teams rotated in and out of a rehabilitation unit to warm up and get dry.

“We’ve had the city crews out with their salt trucks to try and keep ahead of it,” Taylor said.

Taylor said the house would certainly be heavily damaged. The home damage was listed at $30,000.

“It’s just going to be a matter of how long it takes us to get this thing put out,” he said.

Olpe and Americus firefighters were called in for extra manpower.

Emporia fire crews were in Americus earlier in the day to help with the extinguishing of a fire that started in a chicken coop and spread to a garage at 1006 Second St.

“They happened to be in town getting some equipment resupplied,” Taylor said. “They responded and certainly went into assistance for manpower.”

Taylor said fire crews probably would have called for Americus to assist anyway, simply because the blaze was so persistent.

Moore’s grandson, John Wagner, was on the scene as well Monday. He said Moore would move into the house where he lives.

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