MELFORT — An electrical short from some lights is believed to be the culprit in a recent house fire on Whitley Street in Melfort.
The Melfort Fire Department responded to the call on Dec. 25 at 8:53 p.m.
When crews arrived they found a house with a lot of smoke coming from it, and were notified everyone was out of the structure.
“The fire that occurred was contained to a couch in the basement,” said Shaun Stewart, Melfort’s fire chief.
He added that once the family was safely outside, one member of the household had broken a window to the basement. This allowed them to throw snow from the window onto the fire.
“This slowed the progress of the fire helping contain it to the couch.”
Two members of the department entered the residence with SCBA and a hose line and extinguished the fire. Afterwards, the crews initiated positive pressure ventilation to help clear the smoke from the house.
Once the house was completely ventilated and burnt items removed, crews terminated the call and returned to base.
“There was soot and smoke damage to the basement area, light smoke had made it to the main floor,” Stewart said. “From what we could see it appeared no structural damage to the house occurred from the fire.”
There were minor injuries to one resident’s hand from breaking out the window.
