Photos: Fire destroys 3 houses in downtown Suffolk

SUFFOLK

A fire destroyed three houses in downtown Wednesday afternoon after it started in a vacant structure that was under court action for building violations.

At least nine people were displaced, and four firefighters were sent to the hospital with minor injuries.

The vacant house where the blaze started, 120 Franklin St., had been under action for more than a year by code enforcers, said Debbie George, a city spokeswoman, and the owner had been fined more than $2,000 for violations.

The blaze spread quickly and drew crowds . Smoke rose over downtown, coming just a block from the courthouse.

Joseph Pabis was giving his 3-year-old daughter a bath in the house next door when a neighbor alerted his family to the fire.

“It wasn’t 10 minutes later it was pretty much engulfed,” he said.

A call to firefighters went out at 5:25 p.m. The fire quickly gutted the vacant house and spread to the homes on either side, collapsing one roof and possibly making both houses a total loss. It took until 9:30 to contain the blaze.

One of the houses was a duplex. Rachel Wilson lived there with five others, mostly family. She wasn’t home when the fire started and hadn’t been able to salvage anything.

“We had a dog in the backyard tied up. I don’t know what happened to him,” she said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

The Salvation Army was helping the families.

So many firefighters from throughout the city responded that fire departments from neighboring localities helped the depleted stations cover Suffolk’s emergency calls.

The cause of the fire had not been determined.

Pabis said he and his wife, Barbara Cooper-Pabis, have complained at least three times in recent years about code violations at the vacant house next door.

It wasn’t properly secured and they have seen signs of squatters, including a cot on the second floor, they said.

About six or eight months ago Pabis said he called the city after he found a gasoline can on the property , “because I was afraid of this,” he said, looking over at his burning house.

He and his wife had been renovating their home, a two-story brick Italianate built in 1883 that they bought about six years ago.

Pabis and his wife said they felt the city didn’t take their complaints seriously.

Pabis said he even tried to board up the property himself.

George said the city had been pursuing the owner of the property . He had been sent six summonses , including two recent notices, she said.

The city also had contractors board up the house in January, she said.

The person listed as the property owner in city records is Thomas W. Dana III. A call to a number listed for him was not returned.

Dave Forster, (757) 222-5563, dave.forster@pilotonline.com