It was a busy night Friday for Sublette County Unified Fire. A possible electrical fire was reported in a business with a living area in Pinedale on North Franklin Street. Upon arrival, units discovered a smoldering fire in the attic. Due to the property owner detecting the fire early and calling 911, the fire was kept small and limited to the area of origin. With other buildings close to this property, the quick discovery and response prevented this from potentially being a much larger incident. A call came in of a smoke report on Crear Lane in Pinedale while fire units were still engaged on the Franklin scene. Fire units responded directly and found no active fire, but a malfunctioning electric water heater was determined to be the cause of the smoke and an electrical odor in a shop adjacent to a residence. The breaker was turned off to the water heater and the property owner was advised to contact an electrician before turning it back on again. While fire units were cleaning up gear and equipment from those two incidents, a chimney fire in Boulder was called in. On arrival fire units initiated an attack and extinguished the fire. The fire was determined to be from a wood burning stove chimney. Excessive heat from fire in the stove pipe ignited the adjacent combustible materials where the stove pipe penetrated the building wall, and extended to the roof and attic space of a shop with a living area. A neighbor who was spraying water from a garden hose on the exterior of the structure and the timely response from fire units contributed to minimizing the damage from the fire.
photo:Sublette County Unified Fire
