Coventry Firefighters Save House, Occupant, after Garage Fire

COVENTRY, RI—Coventry firefighters saved a house and alerted a Rejane Street homeowner after a fire started outside a garage and began to quickly spread Friday morning.

Central Coventry Fire District Capt. Mark Blanding said in an interview that crews arrived at the house at 33 Rejane Street at around 11:05 a.m., four minutes after the first call came in, and not a minute too soon.

"There was a fire in the back of the garage and when we got there, it had already gotten into the garage," Blanding said. "It was starting to go to the house."

A second-alarm was called and Coventry crews were joined by firefighters from the Hopkins Hill and and West Warwick Fire Departments.

"The guys made a great stop from preventing the house from getting involved," Blanding said.

One occupant was in the house and "wasn't aware his house was on fire," Blanding said.

"We banged on the front door," Blanding said, and there wasn't an initial response. Right as firefighters were ready to bash down the door, the resident appeared and said "hey, my house is on fire!"

The man was unharmed and firefighters were able to quickly get control of the fire and prevent it from spreading.

The fire does not appear to be suspicious and was likely electrical in nature but is still under investigation, Blanding said.

Fire officials were at the scene for several hours to investigate. The last crew left the scene after 1 p.m.

East Greenwich firefighters provided station coverage for Central Coventry during the fire.

Photo credits:

Photos 1 and 2, courtesy Coventry Professional Firefighters via Twitter

Photo 3 courtesy Peter J. Garofalo.