Thursday, February 03, 2000
Ludlow blaze destroys houses
BY KRISTINA GOETZ
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LUDLOW — Fire destroyed a home being renovated and spread to two adjacent buildings Wednesday night, destroying one and heavily damaging the other.
Fire crews from five communities were called to help fight the blaze in the 300 block of Linden Street.
“When I pulled up, the building exploded and blew out in the middle of the street,” Ludlow Fire Chief Terry Bandy said. The fire started in a vacant two-story two-family home at 303 Linden about 9:25 p.m., first spread to a storefront and apartment at 301 Linden, then to a duplex at 305-307 Linden, the chief said.
Both adjacent homes were occupied, but residents escaped unhurt. The cause was unknown late Wednesday.
One family huddled in a van parked nearby to keep warm as the fire raged.
“It was done burned up by the time the fire department got here,” said Jason Lancaster, who lives behind the house where the fire began.
The blaze spread rapidly, witnesses said, and thick smoke clogged the air hours after the fire broke out.
Between 40 and 50 fire fighters from Bromley, Crescent Springs, Fort Wright and Park Hills helped Ludlow firefighters try to contain the flames.
“It was nothing but fire,” said Ludlow Police Sgt. Jack Prater.
Claudia Moran said she was preparing to take her daughter and two grandchildren home when her neighbor, Kim Messer, knocked on her door and told her about the fire across the street.
“When I opened the door all I saw was flames,” said Mrs. Moran. “I could feel the heat inside my door.”
“Debris was blowing over and we thought our roof was going to catch fire,” said Jodi Elliott, who lives across the street.
“The top two apartments (at 305 Linden) just went up and we knew it was all over.”
Herschell Mirick, of Bellevue, owns the home where the fire stated. He said he closed on it just last week as an investment property. He had some people cleaning trash inside the home Wednesday, but they told him they had left about 6 p.m.
“I just feel so bad that the other people are displaced out of their home,” he said.
Earnest Winston contributed to this report.
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