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Fire Spreads Through 3 Homes In Shadow Of Nuclear Power Plant

FRENCHTOWN TWP. (WWJ) - A fire that started in one home quickly spread to two others along Breast Bay in Monroe County before firefighters were able to tame the blaze.

The fire broke out around 5 a.m. Thursday at a home on Lakeshore Drive near Stony Point in Frenchtown Township, just south of the Pointe Mouilee State Game Area in the shadow of the Fermi II nuclear power plant.

The fire quickly spread to two neighboring homes, although it's not yet clear how the blaze started.

By 7 a.m., crews had the fire under control.

Reporting live from the scene, WWJ's Mike Campbell said all that's left standing of one home is the stone fireplace. Another home is badly damaged and the third home suffered minimal damage.

Frenchtown Township Fire Chief Mark Nicholai said all residents were able to get out of the homes in time and no one was injured.

"Right now, it's still too hot to go in and investigate the cause and such," he said.

Kathryn Brown and her husband Carl live in one of the homes damaged by the fire.

"I woke up around 5:10 this morning with my fire alarms going off and the house next door, which has been vacant, they've been doing some remodeling in it -- it was totally up in flames," she said. "It's lake living here, yes. We've been out here, what, 30 some years and we just redid this house two years ago."

Carl Brown said he fears their renovated home is damaged so badly, it won't be salvageable.

Firefighters from Newport, Estral Beach, LaSalle Township and Monroe Township assisted crews from Frenchtown Township.

An investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing.

frenchtown-fire
(credit: Mike Campbell/WWJ Newsradio 950)
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