Effingham Firefighters Respond to Early Morning Call

Effingham Fire Department was called to a structure fire at 314 N. Banker St. at 3:23 Sunday morning. Upon arrival fire was coming out of windows on the second floor north bedroom of the house owned by Barb Starwalt of Jewett. An attack from the exterior was established quickly. While Interior crews made entry, cleared the first floor and then advanced to second floor and extinguished the fire. Firefighters had control of the fire within 20 minutes.

Effingham Fire Department did call for a full still which brought assistance from Watson and Shumway Firefighters at the scene while Montrose and T-Town Fire Department personnel covered Effingham stations.

Abbott Ambulance and Effingham City Police assisted at the scene. Ameren gas company was contacted to remove the gas meter.

There was no electricity to the house as the renters were moving from the residence.

Total cost of the damage is not available at this time as the cause of fire is still under investigation. No injuries were reported and the scene was cleared at 05:00am.