Fire ripped through a vacant Franklin Street home late Monday evening and spread to an adjacent house, causing significant damage to both structures.
Fire investigators are attempting to determine the cause of the blaze, which was dubbed "suspicious" by Marietta Fire Chief Tom Dempsey.
"Every floor was involved when our guys first arrived," Dempsey said. "We have had several suspicious fires in this neighborhood over the past two or three years."
The fire was reported at 11:25 p.m. at a foreclosed home at 138 Franklin St.
Before firefighters could contain the blaze an adjacent house at 140 Franklin St. also caught fire. Around 12:30 a.m. today firefighters entered a third home at 142 Franklin St. after an American Electric Power employee thought he saw smoke in that home. The worker was in a bucket truck disconnecting power to the burning homes. No fire was detected in the 142 Franklin St. property, which was also vacant.
"Nobody has lived in the house next door (at 138 Franklin St.) so I don't understand how it caught fire. I'm devastated really," said Judy Burge, of Ward Street, Marietta, whose mother, Clara, had lived in the home at 140 Franklin St. until January.
Burge said she had been attempting to sell the house for several months. The property was listed for sale with Century 21. Marietta's Full Service Realty Web site lists an $18,000 sale price for the more than 100-year-old, two-story frame home at 140 Franklin St.
Burge said no offers had been made on the home, which sits in a block with four of the six homes vacant. Only the two houses on the corners are currently occupied.
"The realty company has been showing it a lot," Burge said.
Burge said she is uncertain if the insurance company will cover the total cost of damage to the home caused by the blaze but the family does have some coverage on the building.
Since her mother had moved out of the structure was largely empty but did contain some furniture and family photographs that had not yet been removed, Burge said.
Jody Gramkow, of Franklin Street, who lives directly across from the two homes, said she was startled by the late-night blaze.
"I just remember the reflection of it coming through my window. I looked out and wondered 'what the hell is going on,'" Gramkow said.
Gramkow said she did not know the Anderson family very well but had great affection for Clara Burge, an elderly lady who suffered from health issues.
"I love her to death. She was awesome," Gramkow said.
A cause of the fire has not been determined but neighboring residents said they had observed people entering the house at 138 Franklin St. late at night after it had been foreclosed by the bank.
As many as three times in the last week, and as recently as Friday night, people had been observed in the Anderson house, according to multiple witnesses on scene.
"I didn't call (the police) and I really should have," Gramkow said.
Marietta Police Department Sgt. Rod Hupp said he had not heard any reports of individuals entering the home prior to the blaze.
"I don't have any information on that at all," Hupp said.
Fire investigators are expected to continue sifting through the shelled houses today in an effort to determine where and how the fire began. There was electrical service to the homes at the time of the fire, Dempsey said.
In addition to Marietta, Oak Grove Volunteer Fire Department assisted with battling the blaze. Fearing Volunteer Fire Department responded with additional air supply for firefighters.
