Garage fire lights up sky at dawn

A spectacular blaze in an old garage east of Division Street lit up the early morning sky today. Firefighters from several stations quickly stopped the fire that broke out at the rear of a home at 35 E. Gordon Ave. about 7 a.m. The flames burned up a utility pole and caused electrical lines to catch fire. The garage was built for a single vehicle but had a shop area as part of the building. An elderly woman lived at the home where the fire started. No injuries were reported. An adjoining neighbor said the fire burned through her wooden fence. An investigator went to the scene trying to determine a cause. The blaze comes after a series of small suspicious fires late last summer in the Garland business district about a mile to the west. Also, a major fire burned the Milk Bottle and Ferguson’s Cafe on Garland Avenue in a fire of undetermined cause on Sept. 25.