Mobile Fire-Rescue Department crews responded to two separate house fires within the span of about an hour in the predawn hours Thursday, though officials reported no injuries at either scene.
The first call came in around 2:30 a.m. for a reported house fire in the 4000 block of Pringle Drive. Firefighters arriving on scene found smoke coming from the roof of the home and quickly located the source of the blaze in the kitchen area. Crews were able to extinguish the fire before it spread further through the structure, according to MFRD spokesman Steve Huffman. Investigators later determined the fire was caused by a malfunctioning water heater, and estimated damage to the home at approximately $10,000.
About an hour later, a second crew was dispatched to a fire in the 2000 block of Stockton Drive, where a small, unoccupied house had caught fire. Unlike the Pringle Drive blaze, this structure was a total loss by the time firefighters brought the flames under control. Huffman said fire investigators continued working to determine the cause of that fire in the hours following the incident.
Because the Stockton Drive house was unoccupied at the time of the fire, no residents were displaced as a result of that blaze, though the structure itself was destroyed. The Pringle Drive home sustained more contained damage, limited primarily to the kitchen area where the water heater malfunction originated, allowing the rest of the structure to remain largely intact.
Overnight and early-morning house fires caused by water heater malfunctions are among the more common calls Mobile firefighters respond to, and fire officials frequently urge homeowners to have water heaters and other appliances inspected periodically to reduce the risk of electrical or mechanical failures that can spark a fire. Working smoke detectors remain one of the most effective tools for giving residents early warning in the event a fire starts while a home is occupied.
Mobile Fire-Rescue Department crews continued to monitor both properties in the hours after the fires were extinguished, and no additional calls related to either incident were reported later that day. The department’s investigation into the cause of the Stockton Drive fire remained ongoing as of Thursday.