Clarification: Jan. 26 fire on s. Biggs Street was not ‘pipe-thawing’ as first reported

The Jan. 26 afternoon fire at 121 South Biggs Street in the City of Belleville was not a “pipe-thawing” incident as reported in last week’s Independent, said homeowner Yvonne Bowling.
The Independent got that information for the story from the police chief. There was an assumption that it was thawing of pipes since there was a torch and pipes involved and there were many frozen pipes at homes and businesses that weekend.
Bowling said she left for work and her girlfriend was doing some plumbing work on the bathtub. She found it hard to turn the wrench on a pipe and went next door, thinking her neighbor, a welder, might be able to apply a little heat to get the connection open.
He came over with a torch and five seconds later the fitting came apart, Bowling reported.
Bowling said they didn’t notice at first that a spark had gone into the wall where insulation with paper on the back was installed.
The girlfriend saw smoke coming out of the shower head and called the Belleville Fire Department. Bowling said it took a half hour for the fire department to show up, but actual dispatch records show otherwise.
She said she was told no water was put on the fire immediately. Belleville Fire Department called Van Buren Township Fire Department and it took them 15 minutes to get there, Bowling said. She said there were four big fire trucks at the fire.
She said an hour after the fire started, water was applied, but fire fighters say that is incorrect.
According to the official dispatch records, the call was received by the Belleville Fire Department at 11:56 a.m., toned/dispatched at 11:57 a.m., the first unit was en-route at 12:09 p.m., with arrival at the scene at 12:13 p.m.
Van Buren Fire was requested at 12:18 p.m.; Sumpter was requested at 12:40 p.m. Fire was under control at 1:17 p.m. and fire fighters cleared the scene at 2:24 p.m.
Van Buren Township Fire Department dispatch records shows they were dispatched at 12:18 p.m., en-route at 12:18 p.m., and arrived at 12:25 p.m. Fire was under control at 1:17 p.m. and fire fighters cleared the scene at 2:24 p.m.
According to Huron Township dispatch, Sumpter Fire Department was toned out at 12:40; responding 12:45; arrived 12:53; and cleared at 2:24 p.m.
“My house is totally wasted,” Bowling said, adding it will be seven months before she is able to get back into it. She said it might be better just to knock it down and start over. She said it looks OK from the outside, but inside it is terrible.
She said there is no basement in the house and the fire went up inside the walls to the second floor. She said she shuts her bedroom door when she goes to work to keep the cats out, so almost everything in her bedroom is salvageable, except for the mattress.
There is water damage throughout the lower level, Bowling said.
As for the cats, her friend caught one and took it outside at the beginning of the fire, but firemen wouldn’t let her go inside to look for the second one until everything was all over. Later, the second cat was found safe, hiding behind the dryer.
The original report was that this was a weather-related fire caused by someone trying to thaw out the pipes with an open flame. Bowling said that is not what happened.
Since the fire was inside the walls and not visible, fire fighters said it was difficult to determine where to start, but once they started fighting the fire, they saved the house.
The Independent regrets printing incorrect information about the cause.
— Rosemary K. Otzman, editor