A fire broke out at a home on Fritz Cove Road on Saturday night, Capital City Fire/Rescue Assistant Chief Tod Chambers said, but nobody was hurt.
At 5:42 p.m. Saturday, Chambers said, a call came in reporting a fire in the 1600 block of Fritz Cove Road. When firefighters arrived, they found heavy smoke billowing from the house at 1635 Fritz Cove Road, Chambers said.
The smoke was coming from a daylight basement entrance, he said, and responders had a tough time at first figuring out where exactly the fire was. The basement was mostly storage area, Chambers said, and there was a work area with tools and a workbench.
Chambers said he wasn’t sure exactly how long it took to knock the flames down, but it took a little longer than usual due to the heavy smoke and difficulty locating the source.
“It was a fairly stubborn fire,” Chambers said in a phone interview Saturday. “It extended up into the main living space in the floor above.”
In a press release Saturday night, Fire Marshal Dan Jager said the fire began on the workbench but the exact cause is still unknown. The home sustained somke and soot damage, but is insured, according to the release.
The residents of the home were outside when firefighters arrived, Chambers said, and neither the residents nor the firefighters on scene were hurt. Two cats are missing, according to the release, but are believed to have escaped.
The fire was the second one of the day, as a mobile home at the Switzer Village Mobile Home Park went up in flames early Saturday morning. In that fire, according to a statement from the Fire Marshal’s Office, no people were harmed but a dog died.
• Contact reporter Alex McCarthy at 523-2271 or amccarthy@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @akmccarthy.
