PHILLIPS — Firefighters from several towns battled snow, ice, sleet and rain, and lack of water and manpower in extinguishing a garage fire late Wednesday night at 212 Mile Square Road.
Rusty Potter, 38, awoke to find no power in the farmhouse and saw flames in the attached garage. He ran out to his car and went to his parents’ house to call 911, Deputy Fire Chief James Gould said.
The garage burned to the ground and the fire spread to the house, but the structure is still standing.
The farmhouse, once owned by his grandparents, is owned by his parents, Joyce and Rocky Potter. Some of Potter’s grandparents’ items in the home were recovered, Gould said.
The fire was reported at 11:31 p.m. It started in the attached garage, Gould said, and when firefighters arrived it was engulfed in flames and the power lines were burning.
“We were hoping to contain the fire to the garage but we ran out of water,” Gould said.
Initially, only Phillips and Strong fire departments responded, but they ran out of water until departments from Salem Township, Kingfield, New Vineyard, Industry, Temple and Farmington arrived with tanker trucks. Salem Township firefighters set up a water shuttle from a hydrant at the bottom of Mile Square Road at the intersection of River Road.
“We had enough water and tankers at that point,” he said.
The house is on a hill and the road was slushy and extremely slippery, adding to the challenge, Gould said.
“Phillips and Avon town crews did a fantastic job and kept sanding and plowing for us,” he said.
About 25 firefighters, along with Franklin County sherriff’s deputies and NorthStar EMS ambulance personnel, responded to the scene.
It was just warm enough that none of the equipment froze, though the area was covered in 4 inches of snow, he said.
Firefighters estimated they hauled 100,000 gallons of water to the fire.
“We did the best we could under the circumstances and got the best result we could with no injuries,” he said.
Firefighters were on the scene just after the fire was called in at 11:31 p.m. Wednesday through 9:30 a.m. Thursday.
Gould believed the house was insured.
State fire investigators are investigating to try and determine the cause. They are interviewing Rusty Potter and any witnesses, he said.
dperry@sunmediagroup.net
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