FAIRMONT – One person died in an early morning fire in Fairmont on Wednesday, officials said.
Fire Chief Brian Starn said the victim, whose identity hasn’t been released, was discovered as crews were finishing their final work in knocking back the flames at the scene.
The call came in around 6:30 a.m., Starn said, after neighbors reported seeing smoke coming from a house at 320 Walnut Ave.
It was an older home, the chief said, which had been divided into five apartments, all occupied at the time the fire broke out.
No other injuries or deaths were reported, he said. It wasn’t immediately known how many people have been displaced by the fire.
While the state Fire Marshal’s office is investigating, Starn said the blaze started in a ground-floor unit and spread through the walls of the dwelling – owed to its “balloon frame” construction.
The chief commended the crews from containing the flames to the one dwelling, as Walnut Avenue is a compact neighborhood of tightly packed houses.
It took around two hours to bring the fire under control, he said.
