Fires at Moon and North kept the Mathews Volunteer Fire Department busy this past weekend.
In Moon on Saturday, a home sustained extensive damage when a generator caught fire on the porch and ignited the eaves of the house.
Mathews County Fire Chief Ronnie Lewis said the homeowners, who live in the 300 block of Beaumar Road, were trying to get their generator ready for the storm but didn’t realize it had a gas leak, and when they tried to start it, it caught fire. The fire went from the eaves of the house to the interior, doing at least $100,000 worth of damage, he said, including substantial smoke damage.
The back deck and a number of items on it were all destroyed, as well, said Lewis, including a hot tub. The couple who owned the home have been displaced, he said.
The fire department responded quickly to the scene, said Lewis, with three engines, a rescue truck, a tanker, and around 25 volunteers.
At North, a fire on Sunday morning in the 200 block of San Souci Lane resulted in the destruction of a shed that had been set up in the style of a “man cave,” said Lewis.
The owner had placed an electric heat lamp in the shed to try to keep the pipes from freezing, he said, and it appeared to have shorted out and started a fire. The shed was equipped with a kitchen and furnishings, he said, and a lot of items were stored in it. All of that was destroyed, he said, and a camper that was parked beside the shed was damaged. An adjacent workshop had smoke damage to the exterior, he said.
Response times to the scene were slower than usual because of the icy roads, said Lewis, and it took the first unit as long as 12 to 15 minutes to arrive.
Water had to be shuttled constantly from Bohannon Station 2 in order to keep water flowing through the engines and the water lines, said Lewis. Otherwise, the frigid temperatures could have frozen the lines.
Six engines responded to the scene, along with a rescue truck, a tanker, and the department’s new Gator, said Lewis, adding that it can be used for shuttling people and items to areas that can’t be accessed with a regular vehicle. Around 20 volunteers responded to the call.
