Two taken to hospital after one rescued from a pair of Durham house fires

DURHAM, N.C. (WNCN) — Two people were hospitalized after one was rescued in the second of two house fires in Durham late Sunday morning, officials said.

The fire with injuries was reported just before 11:35 a.m. in the 200 block of Raynor Street, near YE Smith Elementary School and a few blocks south of Liberty Street, according to a Durham Fire Department news release.

The blaze broke out in one unit of a duplex and fire crews “quickly removed” one person from the burning home.

A second person in the Raynor Street fire escaped the blaze on their own, officials said. Both residents were taken to Duke Hospital by Durham County EMS units, fire officials said.

The conditions of the pair were not available, according to officials.

Most of the damage in the duplex fire appeared to be at the rear of the home. The fire was extinguished, but the residents will be displaced once they are out of the hospital, officials said.

“This fire is currently under investigation by our fire marshal’s office, along with the North Carolina Office of State Fire Marshal,” fire officials said.

The first fire was reported about an hour earlier, about five miles south at 3827 Dunn Ave. at 10:20 a.m., according to the Durham Fire Department news release.

The Dunn Avenue fire, located off Cook Road just north of Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway, started as a fire outside and extended to the side of the house, officials said.

.Two people were displaced and are being assisted by the Red Cross.

The fire was quickly extinguished and no one was injured.