WHEELING, W.Va. — Investigators in Wheeling are trying to determine what caused a weekend fire that destroyed four homes and damaged a fifth in East Wheeling.
The fire was reported at around 11 a.m. Saturday in a house located at 1068 McColloch Street.
Wheeling Fire Department Public Information Officer Philip Stahl said the flames were showing from the rear of the house and quickly spread to the adjoining houses.
“It took them a while to get the fire extinguished considering the amount of buildings that were involved, we’re talking four connecting homes here, a lot of nooks and crannies and getting a lot of hotspots out to get it completely under control,” Stahl said.
All but one of the homes were occupied. There were no injuries, Stahl said.
The residences were right up against each other.
“In these older neighborhoods, obviously, homes are very much butted right up against each other if not even connected to each other,” Stahl said. “We have other neighborhoods that aren’t like that but this is one of the ones where homes were connected to each other causing the fire to spread to the north and the south.”
Investigators were back at the scene Monday, Stahl said.
“They’re continuing their investigation, looking at an origin, doing interviews with neighbors. We’ll work that for the next several days to try and come up with a determination,” Stahl said.