Fort Worth house fires called suspicious

Firefighters scrambled Monday morning to battle two house fires within a few blocks of each other that investigators described as suspicious, a fire official said.

One firefighter suffered minor burns, Lt. Gregg Russell said. No other injuries were reported.

The blazes occurred at abandoned homes on Verbana Street and Illinois Avenue.

The first fire was reported shortly after 5:30 a.m. in the 1100 block of Verbena Street.

“Firefighters were battling that fire when a call came in for another fire on Illinois,” Russell said.

A second fire crew arrived in the 900 block of Illinois Avenue and found a second abandoned residence engulfed in flames, fire officials said. Within seconds, another residence on Illinois caught fire from that house, Russell said.

The fires were under investigation, fire investigator Lt. Mike Lugo said in a news release early Monday.

This story was originally published September 28, 2015 at 9:50 AM with the headline "Fort Worth house fires called suspicious."