A fire in Cleveland, Tenn., that displaced four families is still under investigation, fire officials said.
The fire at 250 Central Ave., which resulted in no injuries, began about 7:30 p.m. Thursday and wasn’t extinguished until about 11 p.m., said Cleveland Fire Department Cmdr. Bobby Gaylor.
When firefighters arrived on the scene they saw smoke coming from the roof of the house, which Mr. Gaylor said was built in a “balloon construction” method that increased the spread of the fire.
“It’s an older style of construction where they didn’t have fire stops between the floors, it was just a common void from the ground level all the way up to the roof, and fire gets in those voids and travels to the attic area,” he said.
The house had been converted into four apartments, but all occupants were out of the building at the time of the fire, Mr. Gaylor said. Extensive damage was done to the roof, with moderate and light damage on the second and first floors, he said.