By Maggie Susa and Destiney Dingess, The Herald-Dispatch
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — An early morning fire in a large commercial building in the 2700 block of 5th Avenue on Tuesday remains under investigation but has furthered Mayor Patrick Farrell’s calls for the issue of homelessness to be addressed in the city.
Huntington Fire Chief Greg Fuller said initial reports of the fire just before 2 a.m. indicated people were hanging out of the building’s windows, so firefighters treated the incident as a structure fire with entrapment.
When crews arrived on scene, they were met with heavy fire and smoke. They searched the areas of the building they were able to enter that weren’t fully on fire, but no occupants were discovered, he said.
There were no utilities servicing the building and no authorized tenants. Fuller said there were marks in the snow where people dropped from the windows.
