Burned Wheeling townhouses face wrecking ball

At least four townhouse units in Wheeling's Arlington Club subdivision must be demolished and rebuilt as a result of a Sept. 22 fire, authorities said Thursday.

The cause of the fire in the eight-unit townhouse building on the 1600 block of Newburn Court remains under investigation, officials said.

Wheeling police say items in a center unit of the building, where a resident was running a home business involving military surplus supplies and camping equipment, made it difficult to put out the fire.

"There was a lot of combustible material in that garage," Deputy Chief Todd Wolff said, adding that there will be no charges filed against the resident.

The night of the fire, 10 neighboring fire departments helped Wheeling firefighters extinguish the blaze, which took about an hour and a half to get under control. One firefighter was treated for heat exhaustion at the scene, and no other injuries were reported.

The next day, three of the four gutted units were reported burglarized. One of the units, a neighbor says, was unoccupied.

"Miscellaneous jewelry, money and a computer were reported stolen," Wolff said.

While the units are boarded up, Wolff said there's not much more the police can do to prevent people from stealing contents from the townhouses.

"We can't be there 24 hours a day," he said.

Wheeling Deputy Fire Chief Dave Palmieri said the fire caused an estimated $200,000 to $250,000 damage per unit, or a total of $1 million. The building's other four units sustained minimal damage, Palmieri says, as they were protected by a firewall.

About 12 and 20 people are believed to have been displaced by the fire.