Alton Fire Department battles another serious fire Friday afternoon on Hillcrest

ALTON - The Alton Fire Department battled another serious fire in the 2600 block of Hillcrest Friday afternoon and once again stepped in and had the blaze extinguished in 12 to 15 minutes.

Heavy smoke and fire were coming out of the basement window when they arrived, Alton Fire Chief Bernie Sebold said.

There was no one at home at the time of the fire, Chief Sebold said. Chief Sebold said the report will say the probable fire cause was a malfunctioning of an electric light fixture.

Once again his firefighters extinguished the blaze at hand quickly and the Hillcrest home will be repairable, he added.

“We were again thankful no one was inside,” he said. “We did a physical search to see if anyone was inside. The home is being monitored periodically by family members, but no one is living there. We had the fire contained in 12 to 15 minutes. There is again no structural damage to the home and it is repairable. The contents in the basement were damaged. They did have utilities functioning to keep the heat on in the house.”

Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.

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