Four homes were damaged when a fire quickly burned through a detached garage on Garfield Street.
At about 5:45 p.m. on Sunday, several residents in the 500 block of Garfield Street contacted the fire department when they noticed flames coming from a garage on the block. Fueled by combustibles inside the garage, including two vehicles, the blaze quickly consumed the garage and spread to the attic next door, Deputy Chief John Hatch told the Record.
“The heat radiation and the flames were probably about 15 to 18 feet from the neighbour’s house and then it burnt the siding and got into the roof line and the attic space,” he said.
It took three hours for the 22 responding firefighters to knock down the two-alarm inferno. Thanks to the residents’ quick alert and department’s prompt response, the fire didn’t spread beyond the neighbour’s attic, Hatch noted.
“We’re very fortunate they (the firefighters) made a quick interior attack on the exposed house where the attic fire was and managed to save that house,” he said.
The exterior siding of three surrounding houses (including the home to which the garage belongs) were also damaged by the heat, but it was the fourth house with the attic fire that sustained the most damage. The residents of that home won’t be returning for some time, Hatch said.
The cause of the blaze is still under investigation, but it doesn’t appear to be suspicious at this time.
No residents were injured in the fire, but one firefighter suffered a shoulder injury during the battle.
