The Plymouth Fire Department responded to a fully engulfed garage fire at 326 South Michigan Street Wednesday evening at about 7:30. The deeded owners of the property are Bernadene and Robert Schultz, and the structure is a two-unit rental with a garage in the back.
The initial call came in as a structure fire without details. Volunteers with the Plymouth Fire Department were at the firehouse for training when the call came in and once, they opened the garage doors it was obvious the structure was fully engulfed in flames.
As firefighters arrived on the scene Captain Rich Cartwright took control because the Fire Chief and Assistant Chief were both out of town on fire business. Cartwright said they had a great response and were able to contain the fire to the garage. He said with both full-time firefighters and volunteer firefighters at the firehouse their response time was very quick and the weather was in their favor.
While the fire was contained to the garage, which was a total loss including a vehicle parked inside, the extreme heat and blaze did extensive damage to neighboring properties. Captain Cartwright said they parked the aerial truck out on South Michigan Street and put the ladder up to keep an eye on the blaze. Cartwright said they used aerial view to make sure the fire didn’t spread to neighboring structures. He said if the flames spread, the aerial truck would be on site and ready to work.
Fire crews were on the scene for 2 hours and no injuries were reported.
At this time the cause of the fire hasn’t been determined. Captain Cartwright said a fire investigation will be conducted because of the number of neighboring properties that were damaged from the blaze.
