Wells kitchen fire still under investigation

Published 9:45 am Wednesday, January 20, 2010

As of Monday afternoon, the state fire marshal’s office was still investigating the Friday kitchen fire and subsequent explosion at the First Avenue home in this community, Wells Fire Chief Mike Pyzick said Tuesday.

Though the fire is still under investigation, Pyzick said the state fire marshal has ruled out electrical or natural gas as the cause of the initial fire.

He’s also not expecting arson, the fire chief said, but otherwise, he’s not sure of what the cause was.

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The fire, at 500 First Ave. S.W., owned by 54-year-old Melinda Greeninger, occurred Friday afternoon.

While firefighters were battling an interior blaze, an explosion lifted the roof off the house and dropped it down again.

The chief said he was blown three feet out the north door and the compression must have passed over firefighters in the kitchen. No one was injured.

Pyzick said the explosion was not natural gas, just as he expected. It was actually something he referred to as backdraft.

Backdraft is a phenomenon in which a fire that has consumed all available oxygen suddenly explodes when more oxygen is made available.

In this case, toxic fumes from all of the normal things found in a home got into the attic, he said. There was no way of seeing this, and when firefighters hit the roof with water, that caused the explosion, which in turn caused the roof to go up and then down.

Pyzick said he was unsure how long the investigation would last.

The Tribune left a message for Deputy State Fire Marshal Casey Stotts, who is investigating the case, but did not receive a return call.