WEST BURKE — An early morning fire broke out during extremely cold weather in West Burke on Friday, leaving a home destroyed and responding firetrucks frozen and unable to flow water.
At around 3:00 a.m. firefighters from both West and East Burke, as well as the Sutton Fire Departments, arrived at the vacant house located at 2582 Route 5.
The house was fully engulfed in flames when crews arrived.
Firefighters battled the fire during the extremely cold temperatures and accompanying high winds.
“Fire suppression efforts continued until the adverse weather conditions began to take its toll on the men and equipment,” Detective Sergeant Larry Smith said.
The fire was contained and reduced to just a smolder when all departments were forced to leave to thaw out their equipment. Temperatures caused the trucks to ultimately freeze up and unable to flow water.
Authorities say the fire itself does not appear suspicious at this time but investigators are looking to narrow down the timeframe in which this fire began, so the case remains under investigation.
