Lincoln City Council: Welch and Fire Chief Dunovsky comment on Ninth Street house fire

 

[February 20, 2020] 

At the Tuesday night meeting of the Lincoln City Council, Alderman Tracy Welch offered thanks to Lincoln Fire Chief Bob Dunovsky, the city of Lincoln firefighters and all others involved for a job well done at the Ninth Street house fire last week.

The fire broke out in an abandoned home on Ninth Street just a short distance east of the intersection with Elm. Welch said that he lives in that neighborhood and had the opportunity to afterward go to the fire site with Chief Dunovsky to do a walk around.

Welch said that the firefighters had done an excellent job of putting out the fire in close proximity to other homes, and under bad weather conditions.

The fire was reported and Lincoln fire fighters arrived on the scene at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 13th. Firefighters battled the blaze from the outside of the aged structure through the afternoon and overnight hours, calling the fire extinguished at 10 a.m. the next morning.

At the council meeting, Dunovsky gracious accepted the words of praise from Welch and made note of the many people who were involved in helping the Lincoln department.

The multiple alarm fire had brought in firefighters and equipment from Atlanta, Mount Pulaski and Lincoln Rural. Dunovsky noted that approximately 35 to 45 firefighters had been involved in extinguishing the blaze.

In addition, he offered words of appreciation to the Lincoln Police, Streets and Alleys, and Building and Safety offices for their assistance.

Dunovsky noted that it was a very cold day and the firefighters had benefited by a warming trailer brought in by EMA. He said that the trailer is among the many safety assets that Sherriff Mark Landers has worked to make available for cases such as this.

Dunovsky noted that years back, Chef Warren Wendlandt at Lincoln College always made a habit of sending out beverages and snacks for the firefighters when there was a situation in town. Warren’s son Curt is maintaining that tradition and sent out food and hot beverages. He noted that there was also a delivery of pizzas that arrived from Pizza Hut. He said he didn’t know the details of who actually sent the pizzas, but to whomever, he wanted to express appreciation for the generosity.

With the fire lasting so long, Dunovsky added that FS had made trips out to the fire site with their fuel truck to make sure that the engines and apparatus were able to continue running without stops for fuel.

He added that Scott Goodman had begun right away with excavation and the building is now completely down, and the debris will be taken away.

Fire scorched and burned trees, rubble and brush are all that remain today, a week after the fire that destroyed an abandoned house on Ninth Street in Lincoln last Wednesday.

Dunovsky concluded that it was horrible weather conditions for the firefighters, but then added that there is never a good day for a fire.

After the meeting had adjourned Dunovsky spoke with Lincoln Daily News about a few more details of the fire.

The house was abandoned, vacated after the death of Mr. Music several years ago.

Wes Woodhall of the building and Safety office has made several attempts to locate a next of kin to hold accountable for the property but has had no luck.

Therefore the city will be responsible for the cost not only of fighting the fire, but demolition and clean-up of the property in the aftermath. The city can and probably will place a lien on the property, but the odds that it will recover those costs are slim.

There was a small fire in the building last year that was set by someone.

Dunovsky said that all the utilities to the building had been shut off several years ago. Coupled with the previous fire last year, he had reason to believe right away that this was a suspicious fire requiring investigation.

The local fire department was called at 2:30 in the afternoon and worked the fire until 10 a.m. the next morning. Dunovsky said that he made the responsible choice of ordering firefighters to work the fire from the outside because of the risk of collapse to the very old vacant and unkempt property.

He said that collapse could have caused serious injury or even cost lives of his men and those from the various other departments, so fighting from the outside was the responsible thing to do.

The fire is under investigation and findings are not yet available.

With no official findings from the investigation, Dunovsky said that he could not say if the fire was intentionally set. Regardless, he said this was an excellent opportunity to let people know just how serious the crime arson is, and how once arson is committed it is a secret the firebug will have to live with and keep quiet for the rest of their lives, because there is no statute of limitations on arson.

If at any time someone admits to being involved in starting a structure fire, regardless of how much time has passed, that person(s) can be arrested and prosecuted just the same then as they could the day he or she committed the crime.

Arson is punishable with a 20 year prison sentence.

In addition, Dunovsky said there were injuries to firefighters on that day. While no firefighter was hospitalized, there were bruises, cuts, frostbite and one firefighter was burned. In the case of arson, there are additional charges that can be filed that would result in up to an additional 20 years in prison for each firefighter injured while on duty.

The bottom line is, if a fire is set, the people involved are now living with that for their rest of their lives, and if caught they will be punished regardless of the time line.

Dunovsky said the point to be made here is that while there are a number of derelict or abandoned properties in the city, he doesn’t want anyone to get the bright idea that this is the way to get rid of them.

Such actions are not only illegal and punishable by jail time, they are also dangerous to the firefighters, to neighboring homes and to the public in general. In summary, this is a situation the city takes very seriously and the message is clear – commit a crime, go to jail, end of sentence.

[Nila Smith with phots by Mitch Douglas]