Fire Chief Ed Canny speaks on body found in rubble in Springfield

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — On May 19th, Springfield Fire was called to a house fire in a vacant home on North 10th Street. They were greeted with fire blowing out windows and doors, giving them no path of entry. It collapsed in on itself minutes after they arrived. Weeks later, on June 7th, human remains were found in the rubble.

Chief Ed Canny of Springfield Fire said that his firefighters had spoken on scene with some of the neighbors, who said that a group of homeless people had been staying in the abandoned home. Some of the people who had escaped the fire said that they thought everyone had gotten out safely.

Canny said the fire was too intense for the firefighters to go inside and check. "If there's a fire, we will exhaust every effort to go in to save a life," said Canny, "We were under the impression that everyone was out of the house."

Investigators spent the following days looking into what had caused the fire. It was when an investigator was on the scene when a person reported a friend missing, saying he had been living in the abandoned house. "The hardest thing is walking away when we're doing an investigation." said Canny. "And just knowing that that fire started — and we do have such a large homeless community — that somebody could be in there."

After the missing persons report, the Springfield Fire Department called in heavy equipment to do a thorough investigation with intent to find remains. Until that point, their investigation was solely to discover the cause of the fire. Upon finding the body, they contacted the fire marshal and the coroner.

Sangamon County Coroner Jim Allmon said the remains were recovered between June 7th and 8th, and an autopsy was done on the 10th. On June 12th, specimens from the body were submitted to the Illinois State Police for DNA testing to determine if it is the missing man.

Canny said that they are currently treating the situation as a missing persons case. "Anytime somebody is reported missing, we go to the ends of the earth to track that person down. And the bad thing is, with this fire, no one was reported missing." Canny said Springfield Fire and Sangamon County Coroner believe that the person who was reported missing was the body found in the rubble. He said they have reached out to the presumed decedent's family and the investigation is still underway.