By Shavonne Potts
Salisbury Post
A Salisbury firefighter was injured while battling a fire in the Fulton Heights community on Heilig Avenue late Friday night.
The fire started in an unoccupied house at 208 Heilig Ave. just after 10 p.m.
“We arrived to heavy smoke. A crew made an interior attack,” said Division Chief David Morris.
Morris said the firefighter, Capt. Rick Barkley, fell through a floor that collapsed. He had minor burns to his legs and back. “He was able to get out on his own,” Morris said.
Barkley suffered first-degree burns to his legs and minor injury to his back.
The house is owned by Mark Waller and Roberta Wilhelm Waller from Florida.
The couple weren’t in Salisbury at the time of the fire, but Mark’s father, David Waller, was on the scene.
David Waller and his wife, Barbara were alerted to the fire by a neighbor.
“A friend of ours called us,” Barbara said.
They don’t live in the neighborhood.
David said his son had been working on the house so they could live in it part of the time and spend other parts of the year in Florida.
Morris said someone had been inside earlier in the day making repairs. “He used the fireplace while he was working,” he said.
Embers from an old coal chute, which ran from inside the fireplace to underneath the house, seeped beneath the floor and started the fire, Morris explained.
While many of Salisbury City Fire Department’s engines responded, several agencies provided fire coverage including Granite Quarry, South Salisbury, Faith, Cleveland and Spencer.
No other injuries were reported.
Contact Shavonne Potts at 704-797-4253 or spotts@salisburypost.com.