Fire severely damaged this home in the 800 block of West Breckenridge Street during the night of Jan. 29.
By: Mike Koury | Woodward Talk | Published January 30, 2026
FERNDALE — A fire that ignited a Ferndale home Jan. 29 did so much damage that the home will need to be demolished.
Members of the Ferndale Fire Department and other neighboring agencies responded to a call of a structure fire at approximately 7 p.m. Thursday in the 800 block of West Breckridge Street, which is in the area of Nine Mile Road and Pinecrest Drive.
Two residents of the house came home to find smoke and called the Fire Department. Ferndale Fire Chief Teresa Robinson called the fire “significant” and believed it started in the back of the home.
“The detached garage in the back is completely burned, and there’s nothing left of that, except for, like, studs and the contents in it,” she said. “The back part of the home, there's sections that are completely gone. So, this is a very significant fire with very high impact. The residents of this home have lost everything and have lost their entire home. There’s no salvaging this home. It will need to be demolished, and it may need to be demolished just to allow us to complete firefighting efforts if fire continues to reignite.”
No one was injured as a result of the fire.
Along with the Ferndale Fire Department, members of fire departments from Hazel Park, Madison Heights, Royal Oak, Southfield and Birmingham came to battle the fire, and Bloomfield Township staff backfilled help at Ferndale’s fire stations.
Fighting the fire was challenging, Robinson said, due to both the weather conditions and the amount of content in the home, as well as the collapse of certain portions of the structure. The crews were on the scene until after 2 a.m. to extinguish the blaze.
“We’ve been back a couple times where fire has kind of re-initiated in areas of the house that was difficult for us to access,” she said. “We have been back there four times hitting areas where it reignited. I think we might have it under control now, where it has not reignited again in the last couple of hours.”
Robinson added that the last time fire crews were on the scene to clear a fire was at 8 a.m. Jan. 30. She also said there was damage to the houses on each side of the home that was on fire, but firefighters were able to stop the fire from spreading on the exterior of the structures, and the occupants were able to remain in their homes.
The fire remains under investigation, but as of now, Robinson doesn’t believe arson or anything malicious caused the fire.