At least one confirmed dead in Belleville house fire
At least one person is dead and two more are believed to have died in a house fire in Belleville early Monday morning.
Belleville Fire Chief Stephanie Mills confirmed the body of one adult has been removed from the home in the 100th block of South 13th Street, near the intersection of West Lincoln. Because the second floor of the frame house is structurally unstable, a cadaver dog will be used to search the second floor for two additional victims believed to still be inside, Mills said.
The fire department was alerted to the blaze at about 5:20 a.m. First responders that arrived at the scene by 5:24 a.m. reported “heavy fire throughout the first floor,” Mills said.
And there was “heavy smoke and heat pushing out the windows on the second floor,” she said. “Firefighters went to the side door on the north side of the frame house. They were able to pull one person out.”
“Several” other adults and a child escaped the single-family frame home, Mills said. There were no other reported injuries from the scene.
The fire was mostly extinguished by 8:30 a.m., but fire fighters were still spraying smoldering spots and smoke was still billowing from the interior of the building.
The remains of a structure toward the back corner of the house, which appeared to have been a covered deck or sun room, had the heaviest damage observable from the street. It was burned to its charred wooden frame. The home neighboring the burning structure to the south sustained heavy damage to its siding.
Danny Depper, a neighbor on South 13th Street said the early-morning scene was “surreal.”
“I sleep with the scanner on and I heard them say 13th Street,” he said. “When they said the address and I immediately heard all the commotion, I shot up and ran outside ... to see what was going on. The whole house was up in flames.
“The fire department did a great job. I’m really proud of our fire department in Belleville.”
Depper said he knows the family that lives in house.
“Us and them have been here forever, like 40 years,” he said. “They are good people ... They’d do anything for you.”
Tom Powell, moved away from South 13th Street, but was at the scene out of concern for his former neighbors.
“We moved a couple blocks away, but that doesn’t mean we’re not all still friends,” he said. “They are good, well-liked people. It’s a tragedy.”
The Belleville News-Democrat will not name those involved until their identities and deaths are confirmed by authorities.
Both the Illinois State Fire Marshal and St. Clair County coroner also responded to the scene. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.
This story was originally published October 28, 2024 at 10:29 AM.