SOUDAN — Five fire departments battled a garage fire on Friday, Nov. 28 at the property of Luke and Trisha Poderzay. The blaze was reported around 1:45 p.m. near Jasper Street. The garage was engulfed in flames when crews arrived.
“The homeowner and a tech person were working on the fuel oil furnace in the garage,” said Breitung Fire Department Assistant Chief Matt Tuchel. “Something happened and the furnace caught on fire. The furnace may have been leaking.”
The three people inside the garage when the furnace caught fire suffered minor injuries, and one was transported to the hospital suffering from smoke inhalation and minor burns. One firefighter was also treated at the scene for minor injuries.
The garage was a total loss, but firefighters were able to keep it from spreading to a second nearby garage on the property.
“That other garage was pretty darn close,” said Tuchel.
Vermilion Lake’s Jen McDonough was first on the scene and took charge with incident command.
“She did a pretty darn good job,” said Tuchel.
Tuchel said he was not in town when the call came in, and when he got to the scene, he felt that McDonough had things moving smoothly, so he joined the other firefighters.
Firefighters from Breitung, Tower, Greenwood, Vermilion Lake, and Eagles Nest all responded.
“It was a holiday weekend, and it took awhile for everyone to get there,” Tuchel said. “That’s the way it is with volunteer departments. We aren’t paying people to just sit there.”
Once on scene, Tuchel said, the firefighters had enough water and personnel to fight the flames.
The garage was a total loss.
The Breitung Police Department, St. Louis County Sheriff’s Department, and Bois Forte Police handled traffic control while the Tower and Ely ambulance services provided medical standby and firefighter rehabilitation. The cause of the fire is under investigation.