A Sitka house sustained major damage after catching fire on Monday morning (9-13-21).
Most of the damage, however, was limited to an attached garage.
Cheryl Vastola had just returned from an errand shortly before 11 a.m. to her home in the 13-hundred block of Halibut Point Road, when she noticed smoke behind garage windows.
Fire Chief Craig Warren says Vastola’s next move may have saved the house.
“Luckily she did not open the garage,” said Warren. “She was getting ready to, and saw the smoke through the window of the garage, and so she left it closed, which is the greatest thing you can do: Keeping the fire closed off as long as possible, keeps it from that explosive growth because it doesn’t get oxygen. It gets choked for air.”
Warren says Vastola’s good judgement didn’t end with leaving the garage door closed.
“She didn’t have her cell phone with her,” he said. “She actually had to go to the neighbor’s to call which is another good move: Don’t go into the house, even though that’s not where the fire is.”
Warren says that just as firefighters arrived, the garage door failed, and the fire took off, up the wall on the outside of the building. But it also created a large opening for firefighters to get water on the blaze, which was visible across Sitka channel.
It took a team of eight firefighters about 5 minutes to douse the blaze, while Sitka police provided traffic control on Halibut Point Road.
No one was at home at the time the fire started, except the family cat, who was safely rescued.
Vastola’s husband, Dave, says the garage appears to be a total loss, but the home itself suffered little damage. He told KCAW that only some bedroom curtains caught on fire, but otherwise the blaze remained confined on the other side of the wall, in the garage.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Vastola says that he and his wife are touched by the outpouring of generosity in the aftermath of the fire. Due to possible damage to the electrical service, they may not be able to return home for a while — but they won’t be homeless. “We have our choice of about fifty places to stay,” said Vastola.
