By Darcie Moran | dmoran@mlive.com
on August 06, 2015
Tom Perkins | For The Ann Arbor News Firefighters were called about 6:30 p.m. Aug. 5 to the 800 block of East Cross Street after a homeowner noticed smoke in the house, said Ypsilanti Township Fire Department Capt. Fred Anstead.
Anstead said workers were soldering pipes to put in a new water line earlier in the day. It's believed that heat transferred to the floor joist, causing a fire to start.
When firefighters arrived, they found light smoke in the home and discovered a fire had started in the floor joist between the basement and first floor and traveled into a wall of the home, Anstead said.
Firefighters had to tear open the wall and floor, but quickly knocked down the fire, he said.
Anstead said fires like this happen more commonly in the winter, but said the two-story, single-family home was older and likely had drier wood.
He said it was lucky the homeowner was around to notice the fire and alert authorities to stop its spread.
"If she would have been gone, it could have been really bad," he said.