Fire damages Cedar Rapids home less than two months after purchase

UPDATE: Less than two months after he bought the home, Brett Messenger's home burned Wednesday morning.

No one was injured in the blaze, which was reported around 5:15 a.m. at 120 23rd St. Dr. SE. Messenger, 25, was asleep in a second-floor bedroom, but got out safely through the front door, authorities said.

Firefighters reported 30-foot flames rising from the sun porch on the back side of the house when they arrived, fire department spokesman Greg Buelow said.

“We believe it started on the sun porch, spread to the living room and then up to a second-floor bedroom,” Buelow said.

The fire caused heavy damage to those areas, and smoke and heat damage throughout the house. Buelow said a garage below the sun porch and a vehicle inside did not appear to be damaged, though.

Neighbor Joe Paricka, 34, said his wife woke up to the smell of smoke, and he called 911 when he saw it curling from the back of Messenger's house.

“In a minute or minute and a half, it went from some smoke to completely engulfed,” Paricka said.

A section of First Avenue East was closed for about 90 minutes so firefighters could stretch a hose to the nearest hydrant, Buelow said. It reopened shortly before 7 a.m.

Firefighters were called back to the home around 12:15 p.m. when the fire rekindled. Battalion Chief Brian Gibson said crews found smoldering embers between two boards near where the porch was attached to the home. They were on the scene for another hour to make sure everything was extinguished.

Paricka said Messenger, a band director at Washington High School, moved in within the last two months. Messenger declined to comment through another neighbor.

An investigation was under way to determine the cause of the fire. The American Red Cross was on the scene to assist Messenger, who would be displaced, officials said.

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