08/30/12 The Culver Fire Department was called to a house fire on 16th road at 11:45 a.m. on Wednesday, August 29th.
The back of the home owned by Michael Fitterling was completely engulfed in flames when the Culver Fire Department arrived and immediately called for back-up from the Plymouth Fire Department. Their assistance included an engine and a couple of tankers along with manpower.
“The RV started it” exclaimed EMS Alliance employee Kenny Ward.
The homeowner had parked an RV behind the house in a carport and had the RV plugged into a charger, explained Assistant Fire Chief Ken Vandeputte. The heat and flames from that initial fire started the home’s cedar sided on fire and the flames quickly spread up to the wood shingles.
Tanker trucks shuttled water to exhausted firefighters who battled the blaze for a couple hours.
“The house is a complete loss and though nobody was home at the time of the fire they did lose their family pet,” stated Vandeputte. The family pet, Trixie was a Russell Terrier.
The Culver Fire Department got the call around 11:45 from Adam Behnke who was driving by and saw the smoke, “It could have been worse if Adam hadn’t noticed the smoke and immediately called it in,” stated his father Ed Behnke.
It took firefighters from both departments nearly an hour to bring the blaze under control. Fire crews were on the scene until 3:15 in the afternoon mopping up and confirming the fire was out.
Vandeputte said, “I would like to say good team effort from Plymouth and we really appreciate them coming to help.” Culver EMS and Plymouth paramedics also assisted at the scene.
Rhonda Reinholt Correspondent and Kathy Bottorff
