Side of a fire truck with the letters MFD
Fire
Chris Carbon, Fire Chief

New Resident Displaced from West Side Home

  • Location

    300 block Racine Road
    Madison, WI 53705

  • Incident Date

    Dispatch: Jun. 30, 2024 - 12:26am
    Arrival: Jun. 30, 2024 - 12:32am
    Controlled: Jun. 30, 2024 - 1:02am

  • Incident Type

    Structure

43.0634848, -89.4657054

This map displays an approximate location.

Updates

Fire investigators have determined the source of this fire was a discarded lithium ion battery located on the deck. Several destroyed battery cells were found in the debris. It is unknown how, exactly, the battery started on fire. 

The City of Madison Streets Division offers helpful tips for safely discarding lithium ion batteries commonly found in household electronics and appliances.

Damage from this fire is estimated at $250,000.

--PIO Cynthia Schuster

CORRECTION: This update was revised to reflect that the fire involved only one lithium ion battery. A previous version of this update erroneously stated that multiple discarded lithium ion batteries were found.

Incident Details

At 12:26am a neighbor called dispatch reporting smoke and growing fire coming from the back of a nearby home. Crews were quickly dispatched to the home with Enginie 9 and Ladder 2 arriving at 12:32am and Engine 7 and Ladder 7 arriving shortly afterwards at 12:36am. Responding crews encountered heavy flames and smoke originating from the back porch and spreading into the attic. Engine 9 pulled a line to the back of the home; Engine 7 began fire attack from the interior and Ladder 2 was assigned primary search and vertical ventilation.  No one was at home at the time of the fire.

The fire spread throughout the attic causing significant damage.  Crews reported that the fire was extinguished just after 1am.  Damage to the home displaced the resident who was just in the process of moving in. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

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