Birmingham Fire and Rescue fight fire on 20th Street Feb. 18, 2013

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(Gallery by Tamika Moore | tmoore@al.com)

Birmingham firefighters will likely be stationed on 20th Street South throughout the night after a three alarm fire injured at least one person and sent plumes of smoke across several city blocks.

Battalion Chief Tim Love said it took firefighters about 50 minutes to get the fire under control. Shortly before 9 p.m., there were 17 fire and rescue trucks on the scene.

Wind and the location of the fire, a two story house at the intersection of Ninth Avenue South, near UAB's 1917 Clinic, made it difficult to get the blaze under control, Love said.

"Wind has been a severe factor," Love said. "When the first units got here, it was getting ahead of them. We had to work very quickly."

At one point, the wind was blowing burning embers down 20th Street South, igniting small fires in shrubs and on grass.

Police at the scene said the house was vacant, but Love said it was possibly being renovated for commercial use. Another neighboring building sustained damage, too.

One person was taken to a hospital, but additional information about that victim was not immediately available. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Birmingham firefighters will search the building to see if anyone else was inside, but Love said there were no indications anyone was inside at the time of the fire.

Fire Chief Ivor Brooks said it was possible people, maybe homeless, were inside the house.



"We're just not sure. People walk by and say 'I know a couple of people stay there,'" Brooks said. "We won't know until we're able to search."

The fire call came in shortly before 8 p.m.

Updated at 8:25 p.m. to indicate building was vacant.

Updated at 8:40 p.m. to indicate one injury.

Updated at 9:09 p.m. with information from Birmingham firefighters.

Updated at 10:08 p.m. with information from Fire Chief Brooks.

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Here's a video courtesy of Kyle Bucher of Un Inc Studios.