A home in Deer Ridge was heavily damaged this week in a fire that appears to have been caused by a child playing with fire.
The fire broke out Sunday afternoon around 1 p.m. in the upper-floor bedroom of a home on Dundas Place. Flames eventually spread into the attic of the building.
Deputy fire Chief Tom Burton said the investigation is still ongoing, though it does appear the fire was the result of an accident.
“They are basically hearing that it was an issue with a child playing with either a lighter or matches in the bedroom.”
When crews arrived on scene there was a torrent of smoke and fire coming out of the bedroom, Burton said.
“The bedroom windows were open and the flames got outside and up into the attic, that is how it got into the attic so fast,” he said.
Burton said the house suffered serious damage after the fire extended into the attic.
“The fire extended into the attic and there was some heavy structure damage.”
It took firefighters about 45 minutes to get the flames under control. While it stayed relatively contained, it did do some damage to the house next door, he said.
“There was a little bit of minor heat damage down to the housing next door.”
