Firefighters were called around 3:40 p.m. to a fire at a detached garage in an alley between North Irwin Street and North Harbine Avenue. Before crews arrived, the garage next to it also caught fire, said District Chief Matt McClain of the Dayton Fire Department.
“Then across the alley, there was a large commercial building, had a roll up door on the back of it and then the heat from the fire got that door going,” he said.
Also, some embers blew up to the roof of the commercial building, which led to a small fire there.
“And then as a lot of that activity was wrapping up, the building next door on Irwin, we had some embers go … back behind that building and caught a portion of that building on fire as well,” McClain said.
No injuries have been reported.
There were reports of squatters staying in the detached garages, but a thorough search did not turn up anyone and there were no victims in either commercial building, one of which is unoccupied, he said.
“We did have to call some extra equipment out. We did have one extra engine and one extra ladder truck come out to the scene to help us get this fire out just because it kept growing and growing on us,” McClain said.
The cause of the fire is not known, but McClain said investigators are checking with witnesses and will be reviewing footage from surveillance cameras in the area.
