Tucson Firefighters responded to a house fire in the 2800 block of East Rickey Vista which displaced a family of six. A neighbor called 9-1-1 from the driveway of the home reporting smoke coming from the doors and windows of the house.
Firefighters could see smoke in the area as they responded and the first Engine on scene reported brown smoke from the gabled ends of the roof. The firefighters pulled a hose line into the front door but had clear conditions inside with low heat. They advised the ladder crew that the fire was in the attic and directed them to do an attic reset. The ladder crew used a flame fighter nozzle, a nozzle with a sharp point on the end, to spray water into the attic space from above after cutting a very small hole in the roof. They did this in two different locations and the nozzle acted as a sprinkler head and extinguished the flames. Crews also used a ladder to access a roof vent on the side of the home and sprayed water directly on a few hot spots that remained.
Nine units and twenty-three firefighters responded to the scene and controlled the fire ten minutes after arriving. Six family members were staying in the home. A male and female, both 64, a 23 year-old male, 21 year-old female, 13 year-old female, and 4 month-old female. The displaced family was going to stay with relatives and didn’t require assistance from Red Cross.
Investigators were on scene but were working to determine the cause of the fire. The fire started at the same time that a severe lightning storm was passing through Tucson but there was no indication initially that the fire was related to a lightning strike.