Cause of Royal Oak House Fire Still Undetermined

The cause of a Wednesday evening  is still under investigation, fire officials said Thursday morning.

Investigators were on the scene late Wednesday and back in the morning, officials said. The Fire Marshall’s report is pending.

No one was injured at the 4252 Buckingham home and Royal Oak firefighters quickly extinguished the flames. It appears to be a total loss for the homeowner.

The house – west off Woodward and south of 14 Mile – was fully engulfed when the Royal Oak fire and police departments arrived. Firefighters quickly put out the fire, which sent up a dark black cloud of smoke that could be seen for miles just before the sun set.

Firefighters could see the glow in the sky from the station at 13 Mile Road and Woodward Avenue and were quickly on scene, Fire Chief Patrick Mulligan said his Wednesday night.

"We did a good, quick knock down," Mulligan said.

Mulligan said the homeowner and firefighters were safe.

Next-door neighbor Brent Work said the homeowner knocked on his door to alert him of the fire.  He didn't know the woman well as she is new to the street.

Work said the blaze was really going. "I've seen fires start and for as bad as that one was it must have been going for a couple of extra minutes," he said. The home was left a frame with a charred black interior.

Other neighbors said the woman had been doing a lot of work on the house since moving in and it was a shame to see such devastation.