Hazardous weather leads to fire in Jacksonville

By Ryne Turke on July 13, 2016 at 1:08pm

The City of Jacksonville, specifically East College Avenue, was hit hard by hazardous weather this morning.

Reports from the National Weather Service indicate a brief period of half to three-quarter inch hail fell in the city at around 8:40 a.m.

That was followed by heavy rain for 45 minutes, which according to Jacksonville Police reports, flooded multiple city roads.

On top of the hazardous weather, Jacksonville Fire crews responded to a house fire at 921 East College Avenue at around 9 a.m.

Jacksonville Fire Lt. Michael Martin explains how the fire started.

“Power went out when what looks like a lightning strike…a tree fell onto the power line going to the house. The house was experiencing electrical problems, power surges and the sort. It set the house ablaze. It initially started in the basement, it ran up the chase into the attic area, and so we had a basement fire and an attic fire going,” says Martin.

Martin says water and smoke damage was done throughout the house, which suffered around $75-thousand in damages. Martin estimates the fire caused another $10-thousand in damages to personal contents.

Martin says there were no injuries involved with the blaze.

Jacksonville Fire and South Jacksonville Automatic Mutual Aid were on the scene for two-and-a-half hours.

Martin says Ameren Illinois had a “fairly timely response” to disconnecting a live wire on the ground near the house fire.

As of noon, outages are still being reported for Ameren customers in Morgan and Scott Counties.