The East Peoria Fire Department had a busy weekend fighting two separate house fires, one of which resulted in the death of a woman.
Tazewell County coroner Dennis Conover pronounced an unidentified female dead at 12:25 p.m. Friday at 112 Richards Court in East Peoria.
According to Conover, his office was summoned to the residence at 11:42 a.m.
A 45-year old female named Laura J. Youngman lives alone at that residence.
Assistant fire chief Randy Hurd said although the body has been released to the family, an official announcement of the deceased’s name would not be given until the DNA results are completed in about two weeks.
At 4 p.m. Friday, the East Peoria Fire Department was still at the scene of the fire.
Assistant chief and fire marshal John Knapp said the fire call came in from a neighbor at 11:26 a.m.
“There were visible flames when the guys got here coming from the front of the house,” Knapp said.
The home is in a single-family residential neighborhood.
The fire department had the fire under control in 10 minutes, but the investigation will take much longer.
“We’ve got a lot of fact gathering to do when someone perishes in a fire,” Knapp said. “We will be in investigating mode the better part of today and possibly into tomorrow. With a fatality, we have to slow down and make sure we’re as thorough as possible.”
Knapp said the entire house has pretty extensive fire damage. Conover added the concrete block residence was burned throughout inside with little evidence of fire outside the house.
The East Peoria Fire Department was assisted by East Peoria police investigators and by mutual aid to handle any other calls while they dealt with the fire.
The state fire marshal was also called to the scene.
On Monday, Hurd said the fire department had another call at 4:15 a.m. A neighbor reported a fire at 528 Sanford St.
“It’s pretty much a total loss,” Hurd said, adding there were no people inside the residence.
“The man who owns it doesn’t stay there very often,” Hurd said.
When the fire department arrived, Hurd said the kitchen area was engulfed.
“There was heavy smoke. We could hardly see driving down the street. It had already gotten into the attic space. We just couldn’t get to it,” Hurd said, adding the fire was difficult to put out due to remodeling that was done on the house.
