By Stacey Tucker (Contact / Staff Bio)
January 31, 2009 - 02:34 p.m. EST

CARO — A Caro home is a complete loss after it became engulfed in flames Tuesday afternoon.

The home, located at 1913 W. Fairgrove Rd. and owned by Robert Ringle, caught fire at approximately 2:50 p.m., after an engine that Ringle was working on backfired.

“He had just changed a part on the vehicle when it backfired, igniting gasoline in the garage and it went from there,” said Caro Fire Chief Dave Mattlin. “By the time we got there the garage was consumed and it was up the roof.”

Mattlin said when the fire department arrived on scene, the roof of the home was sagging, which made it unsafe for firefighters to enter. They then had to fight the fire from outside the home.

Firefighters not only had to battle the engulfed home, they also had to endure frigid temperatures as well; causing them to be placed on shifts, and given half-hour breaks.

“We rotated them in and out and limited them to two air bottles and then we gave them a rest period,” Mattlin said. “That’s why so many departments were there.”

Fairgrove, Akron and Unionville Fire Departments assisted firefighters from Caro at the scene.

The departments were battling the fire for five hours, and also had to watch to make sure the flames didn’t near the neighbor’s home.

The neighboring house to the west suffered heat damage, as well as damage to a Chevrolet pickup truck in the driveway.

“Thankfully, we got to it quick enough,” Mattlin said. “We had to evacuate that family for little while.

“They were only displaced for about an hour.”

Mattlin said this particular fire was a tough one for the department.

“Sometimes you beat the fire, and sometimes the fire beats you,” he said “This time the fire beat us.”

No one was injured in the fire.

Firefighters made their way back to Fairgrove Road on Wednesday morning for the second fire there in two days.

At 11:40 a.m., fire was reported at 405 W. Fairgrove Rd. where cooking oil had ignited in the kitchen.

“The wrong burner was turned on,” said Caro Fire Chief David Mattlin. “The pot of oil got overheated and ignited.”

The home, owned by David and Kathleen Muz, sustained extensive damage to the kitchen only. Mattlin did not have an exact cost estimate of the damages.

Caro firefighters were assisted on the site by Fairgrove firefighters and the Fairgrove tanker. They cleared the scene in just under two hours.

And, before battling a house fire on Fairgrove Road Tuesday afternoon, Caro firefighters responded to reports of a gas leak in downtown Caro.

Caro firefighters were dispatched to the Oasis Tavern, 261 N. State St. at 7:30 a.m. where they detected methane coming from a furnace at Antonio’s Grille, located near the Oasis.

“It was so cold that day and under normal circumstances it would not have been a problem,” said Mattlin. “With the cold weather and no wind at all, the methane just hung there.”

Mattlin said methane is commonly produced by furnaces when there is improper combustion of natural gas.

The Oasis was evacuated for a half hour as a precaution and the furnace problem was taken care of at Antonio’s, he added.