CLEVELAND — Three homes in the 12200 block of Osceola Street in Cleveland have significant damage following an early morning fire Friday. Firefighters returned to the site Sunday to follow up on the investigation and discovered a body inside a home.
The Cleveland Fire Department said it does not know what started the fire. However, it believes the fire was accidental, and fireworks may have been involved. The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office will investigate the cause of death. The person's name hasn't been released.
The incident left several families shaken and some without a home.
Johnny Scott was inside his home when the fire started. He said a series of loud noises woke him up.
"I get up," he said. "Come to my living room and I saw all this bright light. I opened my door and it was just flames."
Scott made it out of his home with just a small burn to his hand.
His neighbor Marquette Lewis rushed back home after getting a call at work.
"I saw half of my mother's house was burnt," he said. "It burnt all the sides from the back to the front."
Lewis said the damage on the inside was worse, but he's just happy that his family and neighbors made it out alive.
"You never had this before," Lewis said. "Thank God no one lost their life."
But, things will be more difficult for his neighbor Scott.
Scott said he lost almost everything in the fire, and he's not sure where to go.
"I've been here since '04," he said. "I didn't want to move under these circumstance. It's a terrible experience."
