PEORIA, Ill. — Arson was determined to be the cause of a blaze Wednesday morning that caused $50,000 in damage to a residence.
Battalion Chief Nathaniel Rice said there was no power or gas going to the building at 2017 W. Malone
Ave., so that eliminated “a lot of possibilities” as to how the fire started.
The residence, a house divided into five apartments, had evidence that there were homeless people that had been there, according to Rice.
“Even though we say it’s a vacant building, we never consider a building completely vacant all the time,” said Rice.
However, no one was found inside the home when firefighters arrived on scene.
Fire crews arrived on scene just after 5:30 a.m. and found the fire encompassing multiple rooms of the residence.
They also found that the fire had extended to the second floor from the first floor and sent additional lines to extinguish the fire throughout the structure.
A Peoria Fire Department investigator was called to the scene and determined the fire was set intentionally inside the residence.
22 firefighters were called to the scene and had the incident under control at 6:08 a.m.
