House Fire Spews Smoke Across North Phoenix

Smoke drifting east-to-west into North Phoenix this morning was due to a fire in an apparently abandoned home. The blaze, near Irvine Road and 7th Avenue, was just south of Desert Hills Drive and east of Meridian Drive in Anthem.

A nearby resident called 911 at about 7:30 a.m. to report the fire, according to Daisy Mountain Fire Department spokesperson Paul Schickel. Crews arrived to find the home, which was boarded up and apparently unoccupied, fully involved, Schickel told North Phoenix News.

“At some point the house collapsed into the basement,” Schickel said. The crew fought the fire outside the house given the “special challenge” presented by a basement, he said.

“The fire is under control and there are no injuries to report,” the department said in a statement mid-morning. “The cause of the fire is under investigation.”

Robert Roy Britt

NoPho resident Robert Roy Britt has written for In&Out publications since its inception in 2005. Britt began his journalism career in New Jersey newspapers in the early 1990s. He later became a science writer and was editor-in-chief of the online media sites Space.com and Live Science. He has written four novels. .