Police investigate string of fires in Fort Madison

FORT MADISON, Iowa (KWQC) - Police are investigating after they say there has been a string of fires in Fort Madison.

The Fort Madison Fire Department was dispatched to a house fire around 4 a.m. Sunday, according to Fort Madison police in a media release.

According to police, officers found a house with flames in the 2800 block of Avenue O, several blocks away from the originally given location.

The fire was extinguished before serious damage, police said. The home remains occupied.

After an initial investigation, it was found accelerant was used at an outside corner of the home, police said. There was a second fire across the street to a neighbor’s yard ornament.

The fires are believed to possibly be related to a string of fires in the city’s southside, police said. This fire was the third on the same two-block stretch of Avenue O.

According to police, this fire was the first attempt on an occupied home, other fires were on vacant houses.

The investigation is ongoing, police said. The State Fire Marshall was contacted.

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