‘Highly suspicious’ fire heavily damages Brandenburg Road home

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A “highly suspicious” early morning fire has nearly destroyed a Brandenburg Road home.

Tuesday morning at approximately 4:30, the Leitchfield, Clarkson and Anneta Fire Departments responded to a structure fire in the 2600 block of Brandenburg Road.

Leitchfield Police Sgt. Keith Harrell, Officers Tim Moutardier and Brandon Puckett and Grayson County Deputy Mark Johnson arrived on the scene in less than two minutes. Puckett immediately ran to a neighboring home to find out if someone might be inside the residence. After being that no one was currently living in the home, but that squatters could be inside, Harrell and Johnson kicked in the door to the basement to conduct a search.

The extremely heavy smoke and intense heat, though, along with portions of the basement ceiling falling to the floor in flames, prevented Harrell and Johnson from thoroughly searching inside the home.

Upon arriving at the scene, firefighters fought the blaze as dense smoke was pouring from the attic and bedroom area on the left side of the residence. It took firefighters about an hour to extinguish the initial blaze and another hour to douse multiple hot spots throughout the home. A more thorough search of the residence was conducted at that time and revealed that no one was inside.

Leitchfield Fire Chief Tim Duvall said the fire was “highly suspicious,” and appeared to have started in a bedroom. Duvall advised the state Fire Marshall’s office of the circumstances surrounding the fire, with state officials arriving on scene Tuesday morning to investigate and take samples from the home for testing.

Duvall added that the bedroom where the fire likely began was destroyed. The basement also suffered serious damage and the structure suffered heavy smoke damage throughout.

Firefighters cleared the scene at approximately 6:40, with Duvall staying on scene for another 90 minutes to meet with the homeowner.

Brandenburg Road was closed at the scene for about two hours.

By Ken Howlett, News Director

Contact Ken at ken@k105.com