There have been two fires within the same year at a home in Elkhart. Crews were called around 2:30, Monday afternoon, to the 200 block of West Jefferson Street. Several blocks of Jefferson had to be closed, to give crews room to do their job. There was no report of any injuries. The home was vacant at the time. The cause of the fire is still being investigated. The same home caught fire back in March.

The Elkhart Fire Department released the following information about Monday afternoon’s fire:

The Elkhart Fire Department was dispatched to the 200 block of West Jefferson St. for a reported structure fire.

While units were en route to the area, a large black plume of smoke could be seen coming from the area. EFD units arrived on the scene to find a three-story duplex-style building with heavy smoke and fire coming from the east side of the structure.

Significant winds out of the west at 15-20 mph were assisting in rapid fire spread.

EFD units quickly deployed ground and elevated master streams to slow the progression of fire spread while crew members made advancements into the structure and performed a search of the structure.

Neighboring exposure homes were also evacuated at this time.

The structure was reported to be vacant, with no utility services but may have housed numerous homeless people.

The results of the search, no victims were found and no civilian or firefighter injuries were reported.

Once the fire was deemed under control, crew members remained on scene for serval hours battling small hot spot fires amongst the debris.

Upon extinguishment of the fire, most EFD units cleared the scene and returned to service.

At that time a fire scene examination was completed.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation at this time.