Overnight fire destroys several outbuildings at residence
Several outbuildings at a Washington Township residence were damaged or destroyed by a fire discovered early Tuesday when some unused fireworks detonated, fire officials said.
The homeowner told fire officials that he went to bed shortly after 10 p.m. Monday after setting off some fireworks in his backyard at 384 Lenape Road, about 3 miles north of Bechtelsville, Eastern Berks Fire Department Chief Mike Mutter said.
A sawmill once occupied his property so there are several outbuildings — as many as a dozen — that the owner used for storage.
The man said he waited about a half-hour before going into his house to make sure fireworks debris didn’t ignite anything in his yard, but he woke up shortly before 1 a.m. Tuesday when he heard a couple of unused fireworks explode, Mutter said.
Crews arrived to find several structures on fire, but most of the flames were out because the fire had already consumed the wood structures and contents. A few structures farther away from the fire’s epicenter were spared.
Firefighters doused the rubble and quickly extinguished the remaining flames, then remained on scene for about two hours, making sure hot spots were out.
Assisting Eastern Berks crews were those from Boyertown, Hereford, Earl Township and Topton fire companies in Berks County and Pennsburg, Gilbertsville and New Hanover fire companies in Montgomery County.
Mutter said the cause of the fire hasn’t been determined. It’s possible the fireworks exploded from the heat of a fire that started independent of any fireworks, given the gap in time between use of fireworks and the discovery of the fire, he said.
Several of the buildings had electricity by way of extension cords instead of permanent wiring, he said.
The township fire marshal will investigate further, but the fire is not considered of suspicious origin, Mutter said.
A damage estimate was unavailable.