Crime & Safety
House Fire in Rochester Hills Started With Propane Heater, Officials Say
Saturday night's blaze on Grant Street was the second in two days in the Rochester area.
A deputy from the Oakland County Sheriff's Office was treated for smoke inhalation while responding to a house fire near Crooks and Auburn roads Saturday night.
A resident of the home was also treated for smoke inhalation at an area hospital; they were released from the hospital and the deputy was cleared to return to work.
It was the second house fire in two days in the Rochester area.
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The Saturday fire was reported at 11:15 p.m. in the 3000 block of Grant, according to a sheriff's office report. The deputy who suffered smoke inhalation was the first to arrive on the scene; he could see smoke coming from the house, the report stated. "He ran to the front door and opened it and began yelling inside in an attempt to make sure that the home was empty," the report stated. That's when he inhaled smoke.
The homeowner was sitting outside the home in his van. He told sheriff's deputies the electricity to the home had been turned off and he was using a propane heater. According to the report, he told deputies he was doing repairs to the home and went to the garage to get something and when he returned the hallway was engulfed in flames.
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Deputies said the fire was possibly caused by the propane heater; it remains under investigation by the Rochester Hills Fire Department.
Firefighters cut a hole in the roof of the one-story home to fight the fire, fire chief Ron Crowell said. The fire was put out within one hour, Crowell said.
north of downtown Rochester; that fire started in the home's electrical panel. No one was injured in that Friday fire.
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