PORTSMOUTH, Va. — Portsmouth firefighters were in Port Norfolk not once, but twice Tuesday morning.
A home on Lake Shore Drive caught fire around 11:00 Monday night and rekindled hours later, on Tuesday morning.
Fire Chief James Hoffler said a hotspot rekindled. He explained firefighters worked for hours to put out the flames and even used thermal imaging cameras to check for hot spots.
However, he said it’s difficult to get every single hot spot.
"Well, it's impossible to do it anytime that we have a fire, especially in an extensive fire like they had."
He added, “There's a calculated risk and a balance between tearing in the entire house down and finding every spot.”
Neighbor Verna Davis said she’s is glad her neighbors made it out safely, but what concerned her is that one of the fire hydrants on the street doesn't work.
“There is something terribly wrong with that,” she said. "That's concerning, because we have a lot of houses that are close by. My house is close by the house that was affected could've been any of us.”
Hoffler said people inspect the fire hydrants annually, but like anything mechanical, the hydrants can break.
"It's infrequent when that happens,” Hoffler explained.
In this case, one of the crews couldn't use the broken hydrant.
For now, Hoffler said it's hard to tell if the broken hydrant made a difference in the outcome of the fire, but in general, it does make a difference for firefighters.
"It makes a difference any time you have any type of delay from the norm,” said Hoffler.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but Chief Hoffler said it started in the kitchen.
13News Now reached out to the city of Portsmouth for comment. We have yet to hear back.