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The structure fire I had yesterday.
This is the first picture taken when we arrived on scene and it was with in 10 minutes of our 911 call.
A Petoskey-area family lost their home and a large portion of their business stock Thursday in a fire that investigators say may have been caused by refracted sunlight.
Firefighters from the Resort/Bear Creek Fire Department were called at about 1:15 p.m. to the Steve and Florence Hajek residence at 4589 Greenwood Church Road when Steve Hajek called 9-1-1 reporting a fire in the garage at the home.
The Hajeks own two Elsie’s Hallmark stores in Petoskey and Bear Creek Township.
Fire was already through a portion of the roof when the first firefighters arrived on the scene.
Resort/Bear Creek Fire Chief Al Welsheimer said firefighters were hampered in their efforts to put out the fire by high winds that fanned the flames.
He said it took firefighters, with help from the Petoskey, Harbor Springs, Alanson and Springvale fire departments, more than two hours to get the bulk of the fire extinguished. In all, fire crews were on the scene for more than nine hours.
The fire left very little of the house standing.
Welsheimer said Steve Hajek reported that the garage had been full of Christmas stock destined for the Hallmark stores. He told investigators that when he arrived back at the home from which he had been transporting products all day, he walked through the garage and into the house. He said a short time later he smelled smoke, returned to the garage and found a fire had started among the products near the opening to the south-facing garage. Hajek told investigators he tried to put the fire out using a fire extinguisher and a garden hose, then called 9-1-1 after he realized he couldn’t contain the fire.
Hajek told investigators that among the items in the garage were two defective snow globes that he had brought back from one of the stores.
Investigators believe that the fire may have started when sunlight streaming in through the open garage door was refracted through the snow globe(s) (similar to a magnifying glass) causing something, such as packing boxes, to catch fire. The high winds then likely accelerated the expansion of the fire, investigators believe.
The Hajeks had insurance on the home. The family’s two dogs were able to escape the fire safely. No injuries were reported.
The Emmet County Victim Services Unit also responded to the scene to provide assistance to the family.
Fire crews thanked McDonald’s, Glen’s North, Spicy Bob’s and the Bay View E-Z Mart for providing food and beverages while they were working at the scene of the fire.
http://www.firefighternation.com/photo/albums/greenwood-rd-structur...
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mark Montgomery on
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If that's what it looked like just after you arrived, and you knew that no-one was trapped, then the obvious attack is surround and drown, providing you have the water for such an attack.
Do you have CAFS or use Class A foam for structure fires?
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Permalink Reply by Oldman on
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two defective snow globes Guess we know why they were defective.
I never realized the sun was so intense up there this time of year. But as I tell my people around here, Anything is possible, but most are improbable.
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Permalink Reply by Joe Stoltz on
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Looking at the video, it appears the first lines knocked down the bulk of the fire initially before the water ran out. I would also speculate that a lack of manpower as well as water supply prevented any interior attack; probably just as well in this case.
Another case of a delayed alarm resulting in a real heartbreaker. I'm glad that no one was hurt.
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Permalink Reply by T.J. on
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I still think it's fishy, but yes he's always used his garage for storage. Fin. status was fine also and the breaker panel, I'm not sure about great question though, I'll look into that one.
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We've had a weird year it was 75 degrees here and it broke temp. records that day. Today it's snowing:)
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Joe your so right, I was one of the 3 FF in the video in the front of the house. With a 2 1/2 and a 1 3/4 we had a lot of it out, but when we used "our" water up and had to wait for the incoming tankers it was all over then.
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Please feel free to look at my albulm of some pics that I've recieved from this fire, more to come as I get them in.
http://www.firefighternation.com/photo/albums/greenwood-rd-structur...
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