MUSKEGON HEIGHTS, Mich. (WZZM) -- Fire crews battled intense flames and bitterly cold temperatures as a historic house burned Thursday afternoon.
The blaze started just before noon on Hoyt Street between Merriam and Seaway Drive. When firefighters from Muskegon Heights, Muskegon, and Norton Shores arrived, the home was fully engulfed in flames.
Investigators say the house was vacant and the utilities had been turned off . No one was hurt.
"We are looking into causes for the fire; the damage was extensive. We need to get an excavator in here and pull the building apart and try and see what areas of the building the fire originated in," said Muskegon Heights Fire Chief, Christopher Dean.
Firefighters had trouble getting the water pressure they needed to fight the flames; only one of the three hydrants they hooked into to had sufficient pressure to spray water on the house. The cold weather may have been part of the reasons why the pressure was low.
Temperatures were in the mid-teens at the time with a windchill around zero.
