Firefighters save house, pets from garage blaze

A fire that on Monday rapidly consumed an attached garage in the Village of Grafton was put out by the Grafton Fire Department before reaching the residential portion of the home.

“Maybe five more minutes and it would have been a total loss,” Fire Chief Bill Rice said Tuesday.

Mary Fisher, the owner of the Maple Street home, was not injured in the blaze. Her cat and dog were rescued by a fire crew.

Fisher saw smoke in front of her house and went outside to find its source, where she was confronted by flames bursting from the garage, according to press reports.

Rice said the cause of the fire is unknown, although the car inside the garage appeared to be the ignition source.

He said the department responded quickly and prevented a worse outcome.

“When you stop the fire like we were able to do, the loss is really just the garage and the car,” he said.

Rice said it was the most damaging fire so far this year.

The woman, Rice said, has a daughter who was luckily not home at the time.

The Saukville, Cedarburg and Port Washington fire departments also responded to the call.