About an hour before the sun set on the month of May, fires began sparking in an East Side Saginaw neighborhood. As neighbors began taking notice and alerting each other to their shared predicament, the flames grew immense.
Before all was extinguished, the conflagration had consumed one home, marred another, and ravaged multiple vehicles and commercial buildings.
Shortly after 8 p.m. on Wednesday, May 31, firefighters received notice of a detached garage on fire behind 2805 Collingwood Ave., said Saginaw Fire Marshall Derron Suchodolski. When they arrived, there was heavy fire in an adjacent field, which further escalated and spread into two commercial buildings at 2409 Hess Ave.
The flames also spread to the houses at 2800 and 2804 Maplewood Ave., up a large pine tree, and several vehicles along its path, including a camper and a motorhome.
Kalamazoo Gazette/Mlive
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Whether you call it a heat wave or a drought, this week, mid-Michigan has been slapped with some pretty high temperatures. Everyone has been feeling it, including firefighters.
“The 90-degree weather elevated here in Michigan is not quite as bad as when I was in Arizona, it was a 110 of dry heat,” said Lansing Fire Department Chief Brian Sturdivant. Sturdivant said, while the heat isn’t pleasant, he knew it was coming. He also knows how it doesn’t make things easier when it comes to putting out flames.
“It could take its toll, and what we find is it would take a lot more man power,” he said.
So far this week, we’re told the fire department has responded to five different incidents, and Sturdivant said when it’s this hot, he encourages all firefighters to take advantage of the "rehab center."
WSYM-TV FOX 47 Lansing
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