Fire Doused By Good Samaritans

Thu., Aug. 13, 1998

A pair of good samaritans with garden hoses attacked a house fire Monday, extinguishing it before firefighters arrived.

Valley Fire District officials credit Denny McKittrick and Gary Harvey for preventing serious damage to the home in the 11600 block of East Maxwell Avenue.

The men noticed the fire while they were installing vinyl siding on a house across the street. They grabbed hoses and began dousing the flames, which had engulfed an 8-foot-tall evergreen tree in the back yard, fire officials said.

The flames already had spread to the eves and siding of an attached garage, which had been converted into a swimming pool changing room.

“It was just starting to burn through (the wall),” Valley fire marshal Paul Chase said. It also was blistering the paint on a neighbor’s unattached garage, Chase said.

When firefighters arrived just after 8 a.m., the blaze had been doused.

The home received about $4,000 in damage. The cause of the fire is being investigated.

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