SOUTHFIELD (WWJ) — Crews from multiple fire departments are on the scene of a three-alarm fire at a home in Southfield.
The fire broke out around 2:30 p.m. Monday afternoon in the basement of a home on Lake Ravines Drive, near 9 Mile and Inkster Roads.
Battalion Chief Patrick Charette with the Southfield Fire Department told WWJ Newsradio 950’s Darrylin Horne crews were initially called to the house regarding a fire in a fireplace, but quickly discovered the blaze had fully engulfed the basement.
“These are the most dangerous fires we fight. So we offered a full response to this,” Charette said, noting at least four stations responded “right away.”
Charette said initial units came back outside, regrouped and tried to make an attack on the basement, but “it was just so untenable at that point” they had to pull back and take a new approach.
“As it turned out, within minutes, the first floor became very spongy and untenable, so we did not make any further entries on this fire from the first floor,” he said, noting firefighters had to “attack it from the periphery.”
“I made a command decision to pull everybody out, I would not allow anybody into the fire to fight it internally, and we were fighting it from the external periphery at that point,” he said.
Crews have not determined the cause of the fire and Charette was not sure how long it would take to fully contain the fire.
Firefighters from Southfield, Farmington Hills and Redford were all called to the scene.
No injuries have been reported and Charette noted the family all made it outside.
This is a developing story. Stay tuned for the latest updates as they become available. >>> LISTEN LIVE!