Residential Real Estate

PHOTO: Three of the six homes in the 300 block of W. Waldburg Street that have been condemned, forcing residents and renters to find new places to live.  CEN Photo.

By Lou Phelps, SBJ

September 23, 2019 - The Saturday afternoon fire that damaged five residences and displaced 17 people in the 300 Block of W. Waldburg Street, and has left six residences condemned, has been ruled accidental by Savannah Fire Investigators.

“The fire is accidental,” said Savannah Fire Rescue Chief Fire Investigator Fred Anderson. “We are unable to rule out the outside air conditioning unit as the cause.”

At 1:09 p.m. Saturday, September 21, Savannah Fire Rescue was dispatched to a fire in the 300 block of West Waldburg Street. The rear of a brick tri-plex building at 311, 313 and 315 Waldburg Street was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived on scene. The blaze spread to the rear of a neighboring duplex unit at 309 W. Waldburg and damaged an unoccupied vacation rental at 310 Waldburg Lane. Each building sustained extensive fire damage. All of the occupants escaped from the buildings without injury. Witnesses reported hearing a loud boom and seeing fire come from an air conditioning unit.

Firefighters extinguished the blaze, preventing it from extending to the duplex unit at 307 W. Waldburg and a neighboring house at 317 W. Waldburg. No humans were injured, but four cats were unaccounted for and power had to be cut to the duplex units at 307 and 309 Waldburg, to the unoccupied vacation rental at 310 Waldburg Ln., to the tri-plex rental units at 311, 313 and 315 Waldburg and to the house at 317 W. Waldburg.

A total of 17 people – three who lived in the duplex units, two who lived in apartments at 311 Waldburg, 10 people staying in a vacation rental at 313 Waldburg and two people living in the house at 317 Waldburg - were displaced as a result of the fire and loss of power. The Red Cross was called to the scene to provide assistance.

307 W. Waldburg Street has also been condemned, though the carriage houses and garages of this home and several others were spared.