“The people that were living in 1036 (Missouri Ave, the location of the fire) were just starting out in life. They’re actually getting married in three weeks. It’s not a way that anybody wants to start out married life together. But they are a pretty resilient couple. They’ll bounce back. It just took an emotional toll on the two young people there about to start their life together,” said Alliance Volunteer Fire Department Chief Troy Shoemaker describing how a multi-structure fire lives on Sunday evening.
Firefighters from the Alliance and Hemingford Fire Departments battled a blaze that broke out in a carport located at 1036 Missouri Avenue and spread to two residences: 1036 and 1032 Missouri Ave.
Members of the AVFD were dispatched to the scene at 7:04 p.m., Shoemaker said. They requested mutual aid from Hemingford Volunteer Fire Department in fighting the fire.
“We had an engine, an aerial, an ambulance and the command vehicle there,” Shoemaker said. “Hemingford brought down a fire truck and a fire engine, so we had a total of 24 firefighters on scene. The actual house that was on fire would have been 1036 Missouri. The house just to the south of it, 1032, was the exposure house. The fire started in the area of the carport in front of a pickup truck that was parked underneath there.”
Shoemaker described the spread of the fire as following the path of least resistance.
“It banked up the carport and went into the south side of 1036, broke through a couple windows and actually went inside, so we did have fire on the outside and the inside of 1036. It was the structure that had the most significant damage to it. The other house has some fire damage on the outside. We had a little bit of an extension of the fire on the inside, but not near as bad as 1036,” said Shoemaker.
“It was more of a limited fire, but there was heat and smoke, and 1036 would have had major fire, heat and smoke throughout it,” Shoemaker said. “They had a garage to the west of that carport that connected to it, so the fire did get into the garage. We basically had three separate structures at one point in time that were on fire.”
Firefighters remained at the scene past midnight, Shoemaker noted, though they had the fire under control at 9 p.m.
“We called in the State Fire Marshal Investigator out of Ogallala, and he came up and helped us with the cause and determination,” Shoemaker said. “It was an accidental fire.”
The fire is believed to have been started by a plastic cup that held ashes from a grill that ignited a piece of oriented strand board.
Shoemaker noted that no one was injured in the fire, which he noted is a success.
“We had plenty of water,” Shoemaker said. “Everything worked the way it was supposed to. We didn’t have any equipment failures. The occupants at 1036 didn’t get hurt, and there wasn’t anybody home at 1032 at the time. We didn’t have any firefighters hurt, so overall, it went fairly well. The stars aligned and we were able to stop forward progression of the fire in the house. If the fire would have gotten into the attic space in 1036, we probably would have lost that whole house.”
The firefighters, Shoemaker said, were able to have clear access to the scene of the fire, which aided in their efforts to suppress the blaze. He said the support from the community has helped the fire department to achieve their mission.
“Most of our residential streets are pretty tight and narrow, and when you put a big fire truck in the middle of one, you’re not going to be able to get much else through there,” said Shoemaker. “We had Missouri blocked for a good amount of time, and we had 12th Street blocked for a good amount of time. We appreciate the fact that the general public allows us to do what we do, allows us to block streets when we need to block streets. We’re there to do a job.
“We appreciate the support we get from the community, because we can only be as good as the support that we have from the community, and we have, I believe, a great amount of support from them. Our mission is about them. There was a good crowd out there, and people were asking us if we needed anything. It’s nice just to have that level of support because fighting a house fire at a single house is tough enough. Fighting a house fire and a garage fire and an exposure is even tougher. The fact that we still have three standing structures is a testament to the members of this fire department and their dedication to the mission to serve others,” Shoemaker said.
Shoemaker asked people to keep those affected by the fire in their thoughts and prayers as they work to rebuild.
“We get to meet people when they they’re having their worst day, most times,” said Shoemaker. “When you get the ability to talk to them after the fact, you can just tell that they’ll make it through. They have a strong support system with family and friends. They were taking care of stuff on Monday at the house to find out what’s going to be able to be salvaged. They are going to be the phoenix that rises up and is going to be okay.”