Flames consumed this home in Solon Township Friday morning, March 25. Post photo by J. Reed.

By Judy Reed

A Solon Township home went up in flames Friday morning after a fire rekindled from the night before.

Firefighters were first called to the scene on Ja De Drive, north off of 16 Mile, and west of Algoma, about 4 p.m. Thursday, March 24. Solon, Cedar Springs and Algoma Fire departments knocked down the fire and cleared the scene by 10 p.m.  According to Solon Township Deputy Fire Chief Brian VanderLaan, they had made a good save on the structure, with it mainly suffering heavy smoke damage.

“We spent hours double checking to make sure it was completely out,” noted VanderLaan. “I even crawled through the attic.”

Fire departments were called back to the scene about 5:45 a.m. Friday morning, March 25. “It was fully involved when we got here,” said VanderLaan.

Solon, Algoma, Cedar Springs, Sand Lake, and Kent City Fire all fought the blaze, and Rockford brought in their aerial trucks so they could douse the flames from the top. Most of the firefighters had cleared the scene by 11 a.m.

The family was not home at the time of the fires, and no one was injured. VanderLaan said that the fire appeared to originate in the basement, but the cause was still under investigation.

He explained that you never know where a spark might linger, and that’s why they spent hours the night before making sure the fire was out.  “This is what I didn’t want to happen last night,” he said while looking at the burned out house. “We did everything in our power we could have done.”