Garage fire spreads to three homes on Milwaukee's north side

MILWAUKEE -- A Milwaukee firefighter sustained a leg injury while battling a four-alarm garage fire near 26th and Brown early Sunday morning, July 1st. About 120 firefighters were called to the scene to tackle the blaze.

The first emergency crews on the scene got there just before 1 a.m. Shortly thereafter, the flames spread to a home because the houses are so close together in the neighborhood. The fire then continued to spread.

CLICK HERE to view TwitVid taken from a witness who was driving by at the time of the fire. It clearly shows the intensity of the flames at their peak.

Firefighters put the fire out in less than an hour. Everyone inside of the three homes made it out safely.

Julia Evans was on the scene Sunday after receiving a phone call in the early morning hours, alerting her of the fire. Evans said her grandparents moved into one of the damaged homes back in the 60s, and raised 10 children there. Evans' aunt lived in the home at the time the fire broke out.

"This is what my grandfather wanted -- a house for the kids.  The grandkids, if we needed anything, this is where we were able to come," Evans said.

Evans told FOX6 News she was only able to make it through the first room of the house.

"It's just very unlivable. Everything is just burned," Evans said.

Evans and her family moved some of the items that could be salvaged out of the home Sunday and were happy to find that some precious keepsakes weren't destroyed by the flames.

"We have photo albums, pictures -- a lot of things on the wall because of a lot of people's graduation, the grandkids, all of the aunties and uncles' pictures are on the wall," Evans said.

Otis Smith lives in the neighborhood where the fire occurred and told FOX6 News he has never seen anything like it.

"It exploded like 'poof!' Real loud! I just saw the flames going up and it was just blowing hard. I hurried up and ran, like, 'man I'm getting away from this!'" Smith said.

Fire officials say their investigation into what may have caused this fire is ongoing.

Monitor FOX6 News and FOX6Now.com for updates on this developing story.