House fire deemed “suspicious”

<span>Two juveniles are being questioned in connection with a house fire on Church Street in Chester on Saturday afternoon.</span>

<span>Chester Fire Chief Marty Bert said the house, located at 213 Church Street, was a vacant rental property. It is being declared a total loss with smoke and fire damage throughout the structure.</span>

<span>"The police were in this area two minutes before (the fire)," Bert said. "It went up quick."</span>

<span>Bruce Dahlem, an arson investigator with the State Fire Marshal's office, was brought in to assist in the investigation.</span>

<span>"We still don't know if it was an intentional or accidental (fire)," Bert said.</span>

<span>Fire crews were toned out at 2:21 p.m. Steeleville and Ellis Grove fire departments were paged to assist. Bert said firefighters got the fire under control in 15 minutes, while officials remained on scene for five hours.</span>

<span>Chester Police Chief Ryan Coffey called the fire "suspicious."</span>

<span>"It is a suspicious fire and we are investigating it," Coffey said. "We're interviewing a couple of juveniles."</span>

<span id="docs-internal-guid-8b4cd4a3-2607-0ba8-a122-8555af4522ee"><span>Coffey said he hoped to have more information on Monday.</span><span><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></span>