Damage at the home of Dave and Anne Hickey was estimated at $95,000.
By Joe Ruscitti The London Free PressThe Ontario fire marshal’s office was probing a fire Thursday night that destroyed the home of a former London police officer in the city’s east end earlier in the day.
No one was inside the home of Dave and Anne Hickey at 1023 Frances St., when the fire started about 4 p.m., said District Chief Peter Harding.
A firefighter slipped on ice and bruised his hip at the site but there were no other injuries.
Harding didn’t know the fire’s cause Thursday night. “there was so much damage, so much fire every place, I would be leading you into to left field to guess what the cause was.”
When firefighters arrived the fire was already inside walls in the basement, on the main floor and flames had reached up to the roof, Harding said.
Control: It took fireifghters about 20 minutes to get the fire under control. He estimated the damage at $95,000. Smoke, fire and water damage was extensive on all three levels of the house on the south side of Frances Street just east of Egerton Street.
Neighbors who saw the fire said heavy black smoke billowed from the window of the yellow brick bungalow.
Hickey, who was a desk sergeant at police headquarters before resigning from the force last January, was sentenced to three months in jail on two counts of sexual assault on Jan. 11.
An 18-year veteran at the time of the charges, he set up crime prevention programs and organized the Neighbor Watch program.
