No one injured in Henderson garage blaze, say firefighters

At dinnertime on Saturday evening, the West End Volunteer Fire & Rescue was paged out for a garage fire in the Henderson area.  As the firefighters were responding the owner said the fire was out and they did not need the fire department.  Then, shortly thereafter, the West End was paged out again when the owner called 911 and said it was burning again.  At this point, the West End requested back-up from the St. Regis Volunteer Fire Department.

Upon arrival, the firefighters found a good part of the building was burning and they applied a compressed air foam solution to quickly put the fire out.  A thermal imaging camera was used to find remaining hot areas so that additional foam could be applied to completely smother and cool any areas that might still have the potential to burn.  The building was still standing, but much of the interior had been involved in the fire.

The fire had started as a result of burning cardboard in a burn barrel that was close to the garage and did not have a screen cover.  Unfortunately, some of the burning cardboard flew out of the barrel and passed under the edge of the roof and into the building, which then started the garage fire.  Fortunately, the wind was calm and the fire did not spread to the adjacent house.

Three lessons can be learned from this incident. First, do not place a burn barrel near a building.  Second, make sure you have a good screen cover for the barrel before you start to burn, and then keep an eye on the fire.  Third, if you have a building or vegetation fire, call the fire department as early as possible and ask them to come even if you think you have it out.

Ten West End firefighters and four St. Regis firefighters responded with three engines, two tenders and a QRU.  The West End firefighters greatly appreciate the back-up from the St. Regis Volunteer Fire Department.