Prince William fire investigators are trying to determine what caused a Monday night blaze in Woodbridge that left a firefighter injured.
Firefighters were called to a vacant house undergoing renovation at 1515 Colchester Drive about 10 p.m., after a neighbor said they saw fire there.
When they arrived crews spotted flames on the back side of the house and in the attic, said Jim McAllister, a spokesman with the Occoquan-Woodbridge-Lorton Volunteer Fire Department.
As firefighters were battling flames at the top of the two-story house, one firefighter slipped and fell into the home’s basement.
McAllister said he was checking the ceiling for more flames in heavy smoke conditions.
“Imagine you are walking on the second floor of your house and looking up at the ceiling while you are walking. A banister in the house was missing and the firefighter wasn’t aware of it,” McAllister said.
The firefighter was not seriously injured. He was treated at the scene and released.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
This is the second Woodbridge fire in an empty house in about two weeks.
Last week an abandoned house in the 2000 block of Horner Road went up in flames. Neighbors said they saw many people squatting, or living illegally, in the house in the past months.
Staff writer Uriah A. Kiser can be reached at 703-878-8065.
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