AMHERST — A detached garage at a Fearing Street home was destroyed by a fire last Sunday morning.
Amherst Fire Chief Walter “Tim” Nelson said firefighters responded to 52 Fearing St. just before 7 a.m. when a passerby observed the blaze.
The garage was fully engulfed when firefighters got to the scene, Nelson said, and knocking down the fire was complicated by three abandoned vehicles parked in the driveway that limited access to the structure.
The three vehicles were towed, but because the roof began to sag, it was too dangerous to go inside.
“It had a really good start,” Nelson said.
The garage was filled with assorted items, including work tools, Nelson said.
Firefighters then brought in a backhoe from the Department of Public Works to pull down what was left of the garage and to extinguish the continued hot spots on the inside.
“The only way to get at the scene of the fire was to tear it apart,” Nelson said.
A large pine tree between the garage and the home also caught on fire, becoming a priority for firefighters to douse.
“We had to put out the pine tree first because it began melting the siding on the back of the house,” Nelson said.
He called it a good operation as there was no other significant damage, the home remained habitable and no one was injured. Because the fire happened at shift change, 16 permanent firefighters were on scene, joined by 10 call and student firefighters.
Nelson said the cause of the fire remains under investigation, though he expected it to be determined to be accidental.
“We’re looking at a couple of things in the garage that could have started it,” Nelson said.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.