Officials suspect arson
BROWNSVILLE – A fire at two vacant homes on Rebecca Street Thursday was so dangerous firefighters had to fight it from the outside. “It was too dangerous to go in. We just stayed back and put water on it. We didn’t want anybody to get hurt,” said South Brownsville Fire Chief Edward “Woody” Nicholson. “The house was burned up pretty good inside.”
Nicholson said it was unclear whether the fire spread from one house to the other, though he had strong suspicions that arson was involved.
“They might have set both of them on fire at the same time, we don’t know,” Nicholson said. “They hadn’t been occupied in 25 or 30 years. There was no electricity or anything.”
Nicholson said the state police fire marshal was called in to investigate the cause of the fire at 106 and 112 Rebecca St. Nicholson said one house was owned by Manor Investments and the other by Ed Tokar. The fire marshal’s report was not available Friday.
Nicholson said the fire was called in a little after 5:30 and firefighters from five departments were on the scene for about two hours. No one was injured. Nicholson said the fire did not threaten surrounding occupied homes.
South Brownsville firefighters were assisted at the scene by firefighters from Brownsville No. 1, West Brownsville, Hiller and California. The Brownsville Ambulance Service Inc. also responded to the scene.