Madonna's Childhood Home Catches On Fire
La maison d'enfance de Madonna prend feu.
POSTED: 1:28 pm EDT June 30, 2008
UPDATED: 5:54 pm EDT June 30, 2008
HESTER HILLS, Mich. -- An investigation is under way in Rochester Hills at Madonna's childhood home.
The home, located at 2036 Oklahoma, caught on fire on Friday and police said it appears suspicious.
People who have no relationship with Madonna now own the home.
No one was home at the time of the fire.
Investigators said it appears the fire started in the living room.
The two-story home suffered minor damage.
The fire remains under investigation.
There were no injuries.
Source: ClickOnDetroit.
Fire at Madonna's childhood home under arson investigation
Monday, June 30, 2008
Mike Martindale / The Detroit News
ROCHESTER HILLS -- Arson investigators are looking into a weekend suspicious fire that destroyed the childhood home of recording artist Madonna.
The home, located at 2036 Oklahoma St., caught fire Friday night and was boarded up and temporarily uninhabitable, officials said Monday. It is under investigation by the Oakland County Sheriff's Arson Unit and Rochester Hills Fire Department.
"It (fire) remains under investigation but appears to have started in a living room area on the first floor," said Rochester Hills Fire Chief Ron Crowell. "We haven't established a cause. It could possibly be electrical."
Crowell said a passerby spotted flames coming out of the unoccupied house at 8 p.m. Friday and notified the fire department. It was extinguished within a few minutes. There was extensive smoke and fire damage throughout the two-story brick house, he said.
"The family who lived there had gone to an area swimming pool," he said. "They learned their home had caught fire by a telephone call."
Madonna, now 49 years old, splits her time between New York City, London and world tours. As Madonna Ciccone, she spent some of her younger years as one of six siblings living in the two-story house.
She attended Rochester Adams High School, where she was a straight A student and cheerleader. She received a dance scholarship to the University of Michigan after graduation and moved on to college, studying dance in New York City before achieving international fame as a recording artist.
Source: The Detroit News.
Arson suspected at Madonna's childhood home
By FRANK WITSIL and KELLY KOZLOWSKI • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS • June 30, 2008
Arson investigators are treating as suspicious a weekend fire that heavily damaged a Rochester Hills house that once was pop star Madonna's childhood home, the Oakland County Sheriff's Department said today.
The fire, reported at 2036 Oklahoma at about 8 p.m. Friday, caused significant damage to the two-story brick home. According to a neighbor who declined to give his name, a woman driving in the neighborhood noticed smoke coming from behind the home and decided to call 911. When firefighters arrived, flames were shooting through the west side of the roof, Rochester Hills Fire Chief Ron Crowell said.
The current owners were not home at the time and no one was injured, he said. The owners have not yet been allowed to return to their home, according to a neighbor who said he spoke to them Saturday night.
"We brought it under control in about 10 minutes," Crowell said. "There was significant loss."
The fire appears to have started in the living room, he said, adding that neighbors and the home's owners said the house was where Madonna grew up.
The anonymous neighbor said his family has known the Ciccone family for a long time. His children used to play with Madonna and her siblings. Even after Madonna gained fame, he said she would sometimes return to the Oklahoma Avenue home. He recalled one instance when Madonna brought Sean Penn with her.
It was unclear if this was the house that went up on eBay in 2001.
The Oakland County Sheriff's Department said the fire is considered suspicious, and under investigation for arson.
Madonna Louise Ciccone, 49, was born in Bay City and raised in Pontiac and Rochester Hills. She attended the University of Michigan before she went to New York and became a star.
Source: Detroit Free Press.
Fire damages Rochester Hills home where Madonna once lived
June 30, 2008
The Rochester Hills house where world-famous singer Madonna once lived was damaged during a fire on Friday night.
According to the Rochester Hills Fire Department, the dwelling on the 2000 block Oklahoma street was the scene of a blaze reported at 8 p.m. Crews arrived within four minutes and found heavy smoke and fire coming from a first-floor window of the two-story house. Firefighters had the fire under control within 10 minutes.
No injuries were reported but the house received extensive smoke damage, fire officials said. The cause of the blaze remains under investigation by the Rochester Hills Fire Department and Oakland County Sheriff Office Fire Investigation Unit.
According to a news release issued Monday by the Rochester Hills Fire Department, the Oklahoma street home reportedly once belonged to Madonna Ciccone’s parents.
In 2004, the Rochester Eccentric reported that no one had lived in the house since Madonna’s family sold it for $270,000 in July 2001. In November 2001, the house was purchased for $325,000 by a group of Ohio investors. The home’s current residents weren’t at home when the fire occurred, Hills Fire Chief Ron Crowell said.
Madonna, famous for such songs as Like a Virgin, Papa Don’t Preach and Vogue, attended middle school and high school in Rochester, graduating from Adams High in 1976. After graduation, she left for the University of Michigan and then New York.
In 2008, Madonna released her 11th studio album, Hard Candy, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She also is part of the Community Hall of Fame housed at the Rochester Hills Museum at Van Hoosen Farm.
Source: hometownlife.
Madonna's old childhood home in Rochester Hills caught fire Monday.
Photo: WILLIAM ARCHIE/Detroit Free Press.