Fire damages home’s garage, destroys boat
While the cause of a fire that damaged a garage at a Yuma home and destroyed a fiberglass boat on Tuesday afternoon is still under investigation, it is believed to have been accidental.
Yuma Fire Department spokesman Mike Erfert explained that there were no indications at the scene of the fire that it was started under suspicious circumstances.
Erfert said that just before 4 p.m. a house fire was reported in the 2200 block of East 27th Way. Once on scene firefighters found heavy smoke and flames coming from the residence.
The garage, which was attached to the house, Erfert said, was also fully involved with the fire having already spread to the wooden shingles of its roof. A boat on a trailer was also on fire in the street in front of the home.
Erfert said firefighters were able to quickly contain the fire and extinguish it before it could spread, limiting damage to the garage, its contents, and the boat.
Although the fire was kept out of the living areas of the home, the electricity had to be turned off.
“The fire did not spread inside to the living space,” Erfert said. “The inside the home was undamaged.”
Erfert said the occupants of the residence were unharmed, and were assisted with temporary lodging by the American Red Cross due to the home not having power.
The fire started in the garage area and the boat that has been in the garage was pulled into the street by one of the home’s residents while it was on fire. Firefighters had to extinguish the fire burning the boat where it was.
As a precaution, Erfert said the fire department kept a crew on scene until about 3 a.m. to make sure the fire did not rekindle.