The Crookston Fire and Police Department responded to a garage fire on Christmas Eve at approximately 10:26 p.m. at 714 Memorial Drive.
There is still no cause found for the fire. However, the Crookston Fire Department has brought in a Fire marshal to investigate further. “At this time, it is still an ongoing active investigation; it has determined that this was accidental,” said Crookston Fire Chief Shane Heldstab. “The area of origin has been located, but at this point, it is still an active investigation.”
The garage could not be salvaged, and the home connected to the garage suffered smoke and water damage. Heldstab directed his crew to prevent the fire from spreading to the home immediately. “We had four apparatus, a couple of utility vehicles, and a command vehicle also; 22 fire personnel were on scene,” said Heldstab. “I decided that we were going to do everything in our power to try and save the house. When we got there (the garage), it wasn’t good. We worked from that line and back to the garage when trying to save the house.”
The Fire Department utilized four attack lines to extinguish the garage and a vehicle parked in the driveway. The firefighters also needed to create holes in the home’s roof to see if any signs of fire had traveled into that structure. “The majority of the crew ended up on the east side of the property, and we had the hydrant right there to hook up the water supply,” said Heldstab, “We also had a hydrant on the west side we were able to hook up, and that was able to protect the south side of the property, and we pulled the majority of our hose lines from the north side of the property.”
Along with the home experiencing minimal damage, the firefighters were informed that the homeowner’s dog was stranded in the basement. Heldstab reported that the dog was safely escorted out of the home, and nobody was injured during the fire and procedure.
“The guys were efficient; they pulled up with their trucks, and they knew what had to be done, and they got it done!” said Heldstab. “The guys that we had showed up, and it went very well. We had great radio communication, we got water supply, and they did all of the little things right, which changed the scene’s dynamic.”
The Crookston Police Department, Polk County Sheriff’s Office, Minnesota State Patrol, and the Crookston Area Ambulance help assist the Crookston Fire Department during the incident.
