Smoke hung in the air over the 900 block of Mississippi Avenue early Monday morning as firefighters with the Alliance Volunteer Fire Department worked diligently to hunt down and suppress at attic fire.
AVFD Chief Troy Shoemaker explained that the department responded quickly to the report of a possible attic fire, which came in around 4:45 a.m.
“Upon arrival, we did have smoke coming out of the eaves from the home,” said Shoemaker. “We had an engine and our aerial truck, we set the aerial truck up to perform roof ventilation. We cut a hole in the roof and cleared the attic of the smoke. It gave us a little bit better advantage to see, and we located a signature of heat in the northeast corner of the home.”
Shoemaker said firefighters applied water in the general area of the heat signatures and used thermal-imaging cameras to pinpoint other hot spots.
“We had very limited access in the attic to that area, so we chose to go inside the northeast corner, which was a bedroom, and we pulled the sheetrock and the blown-in insulation out and located that there was a fire in there,” Shoemaker said. “It burnt through some rafters and some roof joists, but we were able to stop it in that particular area of the home. The fire has been determined to be electrical in nature.”
A total of 15 firefighters responded to the call Monday morning, and they returned to the station at approximately 8:30 a.m. Shoemaker said that there were no injuries to the occupants, the firefighters or the occupants’ pets. He estimated the damage to be about $30,000 to the home, though he noted it could have been much worse.
“You could probably, actually drive by that home today and you wouldn’t have ever thought that there was a fire there,” Shoemaker said. “An estimate could be high, or it could be extremely low, it just all depends. The home is not a total loss. If you didn’t know we were there, you wouldn’t know. The homeowners and us got extremely lucky with what we were able to find and take care of. It could have been worse.”
Shoemaker stressed the importance of smoke detectors, noting that if people need assistance assessing proper coverage for smoke detectors at their residences to call the fire department at 308-762-2151.
“If you do not have operating smoke detectors in your home, please install those,” said Shoemaker. “If you need assistance with knowing how many you need, or where to place those, or even need help installing them, just give us a call. We’ll try to help you out. Working smoke detectors are a game changer.”
