Garage fire spreads, destroying 8 garages total
By: Megan Conway
A fire in northwest Lincoln kept crews busy for hours Saturday night. Despite thousands of dollars in damage, crews say it could have been a lot worse.
“I was sitting at my kitchen table and looked outside, and just saw flames coming up,” says Tina Barnett, apartment tenant.
A massive garage fire wasn’t what Barnett expected to see this evening.
“I immediately came out to our patio, and I saw a bunch of flames from the garage, so I called 911,” says Barnett.
Fire crews were called to Lakeview Park apartments around 7 tonight. Lincoln Fire and Rescue says flames that started in one garage, quickly spread to the others, eventually destroying 8 total. Amy Holman had 4–5 thousand dollars worth of items stored in one of the now charred garages.
“Very sad, a lot of important stuff in there, stuff that can’t be replaced,” says Holman.
Many tenants had close calls. An apartment building was directly behind the fire, another row of garages right across from the flames, and many cars parked close by. Barnett’s car was two stalls away from the blaze.
“Then I called my fiancé and I was like ‘what do I do, do I move my car?” So, I’ve been watching this and watching my car,” says Barnett.
Firefighters were able to contain the fire to just that specific row. Still, they didn’t take any chances.
“We evacuated everybody, pulled the fire alarm, and we evacuated everyone out just due to the potential hazard and the fire driving that way,” says Battalion Chief Lloyd Mueller, Lincoln Fire and Rescue.
Authorities say a couple windows on the building next to the garages were damaged from the heat, but there were no injuries. After about an hour, everyone was able to return home.
Investigators say the source of the fire was inside one of the garages, but are still looking into what started the blaze. They estimate damage costs to be upwards of $200,000.
