Fire causes heavy damage to Pocatello house occupied by squatters - East Idaho News
Pocatello

Fire causes heavy damage to Pocatello house occupied by squatters

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POCATELLO — A Satterfield Drive house occupied by squatters suffered significant damage when it caught fire at about noon Wednesday.

No one was hurt but the fire is being considered suspicious and remains under investigation by both Fire Department investigators and police.

The neighbors who reported the fire said it was ignited by an explosion at the house, located in the 2200 block of Satterfield Drive.

When firefighters arrived they found the house’s garage area on fire. Two to three adults were outside the house, and they identified themselves to firefighters as squatters who had been living in the residence.

The squatters said they had no idea what caused the fire, firefighters said.

The flames were extinguished in about 20 minutes, but not before the fire gutted the garage and caused smoke damage throughout the rest of the residence.

A car, possibly a BMW sedan, that had been parked in the garage was destroyed by the flames. Firefighters said the garage contained other items and they were all destroyed in the fire.

The house has apparently been vacant for several years, but squatters were known to live there. Firefighters said the owner of the house lives out of state.

One of the reasons the fire is being viewed as suspicious is because all of home’s utilities have all been turned off, so there was no chance the fire could have been electrical or natural gas related.

Firefighters said they are certain the fire began in the garage but they did not find anything that revealed how the fire started. They said the house is salvageable but the fire caused about $90,000 in damage.

Firefighters said the initial report of an explosion could have been caused by the fire reaching the car and causing it to explode.

Fire and police units remained on the scene for about five hours trying to figure out what caused the fire.

The Fire Department reported that the squatters were not detained and were allowed to leave the scene.

This article was originally published in the Idaho State Journal. It is used here with permission.

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