3/10/2011

By the Salina Journal

Salina firefighters responded to a fire in a vacant home at 407 Morrison on Wednesday night, and preliminary indications were the fire may have been deliberately set.

The fire started on the outside of the three-bedroom home at the southeast rear corner, said Salina Fire Marshal Roger Williams. The fire was reported by a passerby shortly after 8:30 p.m.

“We’ve had a lot of fires in this area,” Williams said.

The garage at the home next door was damaged by a fire, and there have been others at homes on 10th and 11th streets, not far away, he said.

“There were two fires there at the one on 11th Street before they finally burned it down,” he said.

Someone also set fire previously to wicker patio furniture that was setting outside the Prescott-Foley House, 211 W. Prescott, but damage from that fire was limited, he said. Williams said all of the fires have happened in the past three months.

Williams said the department’s detection dog was brought to the scene of Wednesday night’s fire to check for any flammable substances that might have been used.

The home on Morrison is owned by Rick and Tammy Rank, of Salina. They said that the home was a rental and a new tenant had been preparing to move in. The tenant was the one who saw the smoke and flames and reported the fire, Rick Rank said.

Williams said the fire started on the outside and spread a little way into the interior through French doors and into the kitchen at the rear corner.

“The biggest damage is to the exterior and to the roof at the rear corner of the house,” Williams said.

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