A fast-moving fire which was reported by a passerby destroyed a backyard garden shed and its contents in Sandy Hook on Monday evening.

Volunteer fire companies from Sandy Hook, Botsford, Hook & Ladder, and Hawleyville were dispatched at 6:23 pm to the Rockwell residence at 21 Osborne Hill Road for the blaze. The half-acre property is located on the southeast corner of Osborn Hill Road and Yogananda Street.

Sandy Hook Fire Chief Bill Halstead, who is the town fire marshal, said the cause of the fire, which started inside the shed, is undetermined. There were no injuries, he said. A damage value estimate was not available. The property is insured for loss.

On their arrival, firefighters encountered a 96 square-foot wooden shed that was engulfed in flames.

The shed stood only 12 feet from the rear of the house. Firefighters were able to keep the fire from spreading to the house, Chief Halstead said. They got the blaze under control in about 10 minutes, he added.

Resident Richard Rockwell's use of a garden hose to put water on the fire helped to keep it from spreading before firefighters arrived, Chief Halstead said. Also, some vegetation positioned between the burning shed and the house buffered the house from damage, he said.

Items inside the shed included a snow blower, a lawn mower, a generator, a gasoline storage can full of gasoline, a full propane tank, an empty propane tank, shingles, and hand tools, the fire chief said.

Firefighters used about 2,200 gallons of water carried on fire trucks, he said.

Firefighters sprayed some of that water onto an outdoor 150-gallon propane storage tank positioned about 22 feet from the fire to keep that tank from igniting, he said. The tank stood alongside the ranch-style house which was built in 1955.

The fire caused no heat damage to the house, but some smoke entered the attic, the fire chief said.

Firefighters closed the section of Osborne Hill Road lying between its intersections with Yogananda Street and Sutherland Drive to through-traffic while they were at the scene.

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