BEATRICE – Beatrice Firefighters battled a garage fire Sunday morning in the middle of a city block, in the north part of the city.
Firefighters were sent to an alley between 8th and 9th, and Irving and Park Streets…a garage fire at 14-14 North 8th.


Fire Captain Craig Fisher says firefighters had to deal with a power line attached to the garage, which was brought down by the fire.
"That kind of blocks off where we can bring the water from. Because of the power lines, we kind of had to readjust. Just the main service feed fell".


Fisher said the owners of the garage were not at home when the fire began. He says firefighters were able to keep the flames inside the building, and no surrounding structures were burned. Arriving firefighters found thick smoke coming from the garage.


"For whatever reason...probably a short in the garage door opener....a garage door started opening up. We were on a medical call about three blocks away, so when we first came up here, with brought a pickup....then we had to wait for the engine to come".


A fire pumper truck, the department’s aerial ladder truck and an ambulance were sent to the scene. Police vehicles blocked off both entrances to the north-south alley. Firefighters hooked up to a hydrant at the northwest corner of 9th and Irving.


The two-stall garage with a smaller door to the south end had a sport utility vehicle parked inside, which was destroyed in the fire. The structure was totaled.
Department officials summoned an investigator from the Nebraska Fire Marshal’s Office to help look into the cause of the blaze.  Fisher said the cause of the fire was traced to a malfunction in a refrigerator, located in the northwest corner of the garage.

Structural damage was estimated at $30,000…with a $24,000 loss from the 2016 SUV parked inside….and another $5,000 loss of tools and other items.