Moline fire leaves two people dead

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By Thomas Geyer | Wednesday, August 9, 2006 12:05 PM CDT | () comments

THE QUAD-CITY TIMES

Two men died Tuesday night in an apartment fire that Moline authorities are calling suspicious — the second such suspicious blaze on Avenue of the Cities on Tuesday.

The fatal fire was reported at 3135 ½ Avenue of the Cities at 6:26 p.m., Moline police Lt. Jerome Patrick said. When firefighters arrived on the scene, heavy smoke was pouring out of a second-floor apartment. Firefighters found two adult male victims inside the apartment, he added.

The men were pronounced dead at the scene. Their names were not being released Tuesday night, and autopsies are scheduled to determine the exact cause of their deaths, Patrick said.

Moline firefighters extinguished the blaze quickly, he said. The cause of the fire is under investigation and is considered suspicious by both the police and fire departments.

Marie Atkinson, a clerk at the Shell gasoline station across the street from the building where the bodies were discovered, said she saw the fire trucks pull up to the building.

“But couldn’t see that anything was happening until they broke the windows and then the smoke started rolling out of the building,” she said.

Traffic along that portion of Avenue of the Cities was affected for several hours.

Earlier in the day, firefighters responded to a burning building about a mile east, at 4501 Avenue of the Cities, fearing the structure contained apartments with people sleeping inside. That was not the case, but nine businesses in the building had various damage reported. Patrick also called that fire suspicious.

Anyone with information about the fires is asked to call the Moline Police Department at (309) 797-0403 or Crime Stoppers at (309) 762-9500.

Thomas Geyer can be contacted at (563) 383-2328 or tgeyer@qctimes.com.