Fire destroys local garage

A quickly growing fire consumed a garage on a Kootenai River Road property Wednesday evening, but the quick response of the Libby Volunteer Fire Department prevented it from spreading and destroying other property.

Dispatch notified the fire department of the blaze at 7:19 p.m., with fire personnel arriving on-scene at 7:26 p.m. Second Assistant Chief Scott Beagle said the garage was “fully engulfed” when the first crews arrived to battle the fire.

Beagle said the structure was basically a pole barn with a roof on it, which went up in flames quickly. The primary concern, he said, was the electrical lines running into and near the structure. There was also a boat and camper near the garage, which were both pulled away to safety by fire crews before the fire could cause damage to them.

“I think we had a good response,” Beagle said. “We have a good crew there on the scene.”

Beagle said the volunteer responders knocked down the fire quickly, but not in time to save the structure, which he categorized as a total loss. An estimate of the value of the loss was not immediately available, but Beagle said it didn’t appear to have been a high-dollar value loss.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but Beagle said he is operating under the assumption that it was electrical in nature.