Space heater causes Sunday night fire

QUINCY — The Quincy Fire Department determined a space heater caused a house fire on the city’s south side Sunday night.

Just after 10:30 p.m., QFD responded to a house fire at 600 Madison. There were no residents in the house as fire was coming from the first and second floors.

Crews deployed a line and began attacking the fire from the exterior and the incident was escalated to a second alarm with a supply line being connected from the nearby hydrant. The remaining two on duty crews arrived and additional hose lines were deployed.

Fire was partially extinguished on the first floor and two crews entered the house to finish extinguishment on the first floor before proceeding to the second floor

But conditions deteriorated quickly and the decision was made to evacuate the crews from the building as the Incident Commander called for a third alarm.

The aerial ladder on Engine 2 was set up to apply water through a second story window. An additional hose line was deployed to protect the house next door, which had been evacuated as a precaution.

Ameren Gas and Electric were on scene to lock out the gas and disconnect power to the house. All crews
focused efforts on containment and extinguishment. The fire was brought under control in about an hour
and almost fully extinguished after three hours. One crew was still on the scene Monday morning to monitor flare ups.

QPD shut down South 6th Street to protect fire crews and Adams County Ambulance Service was on
scene to standby in case they were needed. The QFD Volunteer Rehab Team also responded to assist
firefighters recover during their breaks in operations and Quincy Central Services crews spread salt on
Madison and 6th Streets due to the formation of ice on the pavement from the water runoff. No civilians
or firefighters were injured at the scene.

The house sustained heavy fire damage to most of the first and second floors and the roof had collapsed
in several places. The fire originated in a first floor bedroom where the electric space heater was located.