The quick action of neighbors helped contain a garage fire that injured a Rochester man Friday afternoon.
A neighbor saw smoke and heard yelling just after 2 p.m. He ran outside and saw flames coming out of a lower level, tuck-under garage next door. The homeowner had been draining fuel from his car when a spark ignited it, burning the man. The homeowner was outside of the garage when two neighbors started spraying water on the fire with garden hoses.
The neighbors' efforts knocked down the fire, but didn't extinguish it, said Bill MacMonegle, acting battalion chief for the Rochester Fire Department. The fire encompassed the vehicle, some of the contents of the garage and melted and blackened the siding above the garage, MacMonegle said, but didn't affect the living quarters of the home.
The homeowner was taken to Saint Marys Hospital for treatment of burns suffered in the fire, the neighbor said. MacMonegle noted that it was a leg injury.
ADVERTISEMENT
The home is in the 3700 block of Stone Point Drive N.E.
