VIDEO/PHOTOS: It was happenstance that Battalion Chief Larry Carter saw the smoke about a block south of where McClure Avenue intersects with Knoxville Avenue. It was early Tuesday morning, at about 5:30 a.m.
Carter was on his way to the main fire station in Peoriaโs North Valley when he saw smoke billowing around the area of East Archer and Dechman Avenue. When he arrived in the alley behind Archer and Dechman, he saw a single-stall garage completely engulfed in flames and a neighboring two-stall one at risk of catching fire too. Peoria Fire Department companies arrived, the battalion chief said. Within 15 minutes, the fire was out but the initial structure was burnt to the ground, Carter said.
