TORRINGTON – The Torrington Volunteer Fire Department, Torrington Police Department, Goshen County Fire Warden and Torrington Ambulance responded to the 2200 block of West A Street on Friday afternoon, Nov. 11. At 10:43 a.m., a caller reported smoke coming from the area of the downstairs apartment.
Fortunately, nobody was injured in the fire. The tenant of the apartment was away during the incident.
Incident commander for the fire, Luis Correa, told the Telegram the department was dispatched to a possible structure fire in a basement. A law enforcement officer discovered an electrical wire had fallen which connected the house to power from a power line in the alley. The electrical wire had fallen into a pile of leaves in a window well, igniting the leaves.
The law enforcement officer retrieved a fire extinguisher from his patrol vehicle and was able to extinguish the flames in short order.
Black Hills energy shut off the natural gas to the residence during the incident while the City of Torrington electric department disconnected the power from the house.
Both natural gas and electricity were later restored to the residence.
“Our engine got there, and I had them hook up to the hydrant and come to the residence,” Correa explained. “I spoke to the PD officers on scene, and they thought the electric service had fallen off the house and the leaves in the window well had caught fire from the line. The PD had it out with a fire extinguisher by the time we got anywhere near.”
