Fire damages Batavia-area house
Solvents a construction contractor discarded in a garbage container may have spontaneously combusted Monday morning, causing a fire that spread to a house near Batavia.
It happened around 3:30 a.m. in the 38W300 block of Monterey Drive, according to the Batavia Fire Department.
The fire spread to a side and roof of the 1½-story, four-bedroom house. A ceiling collapsed.
The occupants were alerted by smoke detectors and escaped safely.
No estimate of the cost of damage is available. Authorities have deemed the home uninhabitable.