An alert neighbor and quick emergency response saved the home of Mark and Amy Overgaard Friday when their shop was destroyed by fire.
Luverne Fire Chief David Van Batavia lives in the same neighborhood as the Overgaards on Rowe Drive east of Luverne.
He said he was on the back porch when he heard his wife, Jessica, yell from the front yard. Black smoke was pouring out of the Overgaards’ shop.
He said he radioed the Sheriff’s Office to dispatch his fire department, and he alerted the Overgaards, who were inside the house and were just noticing the smoke through their backyard windows.
“We moved a truck and UTV away from the building and then waited for fire trucks to get here,” Van Batavia said.
In the short amount of time it took for crews to arrive, the nearby garage had heated to the point that the inside blinds started melting, and the exterior panes of the garage and house windows began to shatter from the heat.
“If those inside panes had popped, it would have been hard to save the house,” Van Batavia said.
When firefighters arrived, they focused on cooling the house and garage, which saved them both from interior damage.
“It was a very close call,” Van Batavia said. “It was a matter of minutes. If my wife hadn’t seen it when she did, the garage and house would have been engulfed.”
He said the shop is likely a total loss, and the siding and windows on the house and garage will need to be replaced.
The cause of the blaze is likely a lawnmower that had recently been parked in the shop.