Members of the Dubois Volunteer Fire Department were kept bust over the weekend with a pair of fires
Just before 2 o’clock Friday afternoon, Firefighters were called to the report of a woods fire at the Travis Roach residence located along the 8700 Block of North 900 East.
Department Spokesman Zach Eichmiller says when they arrived, firefighters found a large wooded area burning behind Roach’s house, which had burned all the way to the edge of the house unknowingly.
Eichmiller says although there was no damage to the home, the fire did consume an area of about one and a half acres of wooded ground.
Mr. Roach was home at the time and told fires officials that he had taken out a couple of large cardboard boxes and burned them near the woods.
Roach said he thought they were out when he went back inside his home, but a short time later, he smelled smoke and looked outside to find a large wooded area burning and called 911.
Eichmiller says that due to the type of area and accessibility, all available manpower was requested. The fire was contained without any major damage to property.
21 firefighters responded with three trucks and were on scene for about an hour and half.
SECOND CALL
Saturday afternoon, just after 1 p.m. Dubois Firefighters responded to the report of a possible electrical fire at the Derek Jones residence, located along the 5300 block of East Jackson Street in Dubois.
Department spokesman Eichmiller says upon arrival, firefighters found the crawl space filled with smoke under the modular home. The small fire near was where the electrical service comes into the residence.
Jones told firefighters that he used a small garden hose to try and extinguish the flames before firefighters arrived and used their equipment.
Jones, who is also a member of the Dubois Volunteer Fire Department, stated that he was working in his detached garage when half of the lights went out.
He began to investigate the cause when he heard a loud pop which was most likely a nearby REC transformer on a pole. It was determined that the wires that ran from the home to his detached garage had shorted out under the home and started a fire.
The short resulted in tripping the fuse on the transformer, which caused a power outage to six nearby homes. Dubois REC did respond to the scene and power was fully disconnected to the garage.
An electrician had to do an assessment of the wiring before REC personnel would turn power back on to the home. After an inspection, power was indeed turned back on to the home which sustained minimal damage and was habitable after the incident.
22 firefighters with two trucks responded and were on the scene for about an hour and fifteen minutes.
Memorial Hospital Ambulance Service were on standby, but no injuries were reported.
