By DANIEL HUMAN
A Kokomo city firefighter was injured Thursday morning while battling a fire that destroyed a building on the corner of Jefferson and Purdum streets.
Kokomo Fire Chief Pat O’Neill said firefighter Ray Fitzgerald went to Howard Regional Health System after he complained of chest pains at the scene of the fire.
Voicemail messages left with a hospital spokeswoman regarding Fitzgerald’s condition were not returned Thursday afternoon.
No one was home when a fire broke out at a building, which the fire department believed was a house converted into apartments, on the northwest corner of Jefferson and Purdum streets.
O’Neill did not comment on whether the department found the building’s owners or tenants, saying the investigation was ongoing.
The department had not released an official cause of the fire as of Thursday afternoon.
It took firefighters several hours to put out the fire, which burned through the roof and opened a hole on the east side of the building.
Once the fire reached the outside, the fire department went into “defensive mode,” KFD District Chief Brad Myers said. Firefighters left the building, and the department used an aerial hose outside to contain the blaze safely.
• Daniel Human is a Kokomo Tribune staff writer. He can be reached at 765-454-8570 or at daniel.human@kokomotribune.com.
