Fire Heavily Damages Winslow Road Home

By Andrew Gorosko

Firefighters from all five local volunteer fire companies responded to an accidental blaze on Sunday, October 16, that extensively damaged a split-level house on the corner of Winslow Road and Great Hill Road.

There were no injuries in the 3:36 pm fire, which damaged the residence of Lazaro Gonzalez and Stephanie Ryan at 1 Winslow Road, officials said. The couple’s teenage children were not at home at the time of the blaze.

Deputy Fire Marshal Rich Frampton said October 19 that the fire started at a lawn tractor parked within the house’s garage. That compact tractor had just been in use by Mr Gonzalez, who had been using it to mulch fallen leaves on the lawn at the property, Mr Frampton said.

An insurance investigator will examine the tractor to pinpoint the cause of the fire, the deputy fire marshal said.

The family, which was displaced by the fire, is staying elsewhere until able to rent a house locally, Mr Frampton said.

The fire likely caused more than $250,000 damage to the premises, he said.

“Nobody got hurt. That’s the good thing, “ Mr Frampton said.

The family was able to get two pet dogs out of the house unharmed.

Chief Building Official John Poeltl declared the house uninhabitable, based of the extent of the damage. The blaze caused structural damage to the ceiling above the garage, which lies below the house’s living quarters. Also, the incident caused heat and smoke damage to the living quarters.

Hawleyville Fire Chief Joe Farrell was the incident commander.

When he arrived at the scene, there were flames shooting out of the garage, Chief Farrell said. Also, there were some live electrical lines lying on the driveway, he said.

The blaze was a garage fire that became a house fire, causing extensive damage to the structure, including the living quarters and the attic, he said.

About 40 firefighters responded to the scene. They shuttled water to the fire from nearby sources to extinguish the blaze. About 9,000 gallons of water were used for firefighting.

Firefighters set up a portable tank to supply the fire scene with a suitable water supply.

The incident resulted in heat, smoke, and water damage to the premises, making the structure uninhabitable, he said.

The Red Cross responded to aid the displaced residents.

John Bragoli of 2 Winslow Road, who lives across the street, said, “The [lawn] tractor caught on fire and then it spread really fast.”

Thankfully, there were no injuries, he said.

Photographer Cynthia O’Connor of Sherman happened to be at the Bragoli residence at the time, taking photos in the backyard.

“We heard this really loud ‘pop,’” alerting those nearby that something was amiss, after which they spotted the fire underway in the garage, she said.

“It was so fast. It was unbelievable. It was so fast. It just went up,” she said.

“Thank God that everybody got out alive,” Ms O’Connor said.

Ms O’Connor took several dozen photographs of the fire, which fire officials received for their reference.

The last firefighters left the scene at about 9:20 pm.