No one was hurt, but a Festus couple’s garage was damaged and their van was destroyed in a fire late Friday morning (Nov. 2).
Festus Assistant Fire Chief Chuck Boyer said his department got a call at 10:50 a.m. about the fire in a detached garage at 907 S. Third St.
“When the crews got there, they saw heavy smoke coming from the garage,” he said. “When we cut off the garage door, we saw flames coming from the vehicle inside.”
Rebecca Rhineberger, who lives in the home, said she had returned at 10 a.m. from running errands with a friend, a 91-year-old woman who also lives there.
“We went to the store, and I parked the van in the garage and took the groceries inside,” Rhineberger said. “My friend went upstairs for a nap, and I went downstairs (to the basement) to do some laundry. I was folding clothes when I heard my dog, Daisy, barking. She barks a lot at almost everything, but I didn’t want her to wake (her friend). So I went up to quiet Daisy down and when I looked outside, I saw smoke – a lot of smoke – coming from the garage. That’s when I called 911.”
Jefferson R-7, Herculaneum and Crystal City firefighters also helped with the fire.
One of the firefighters on board the truck from Crystal City was Rhineberger’s husband, Carl, a veteran firefighter who formerly was a captain with the Festus Fire Department.
Rebecca Rhineberger said it was one of the few times she has seen her husband fight a fire.
“He did OK,” she said. “He did a lot better than I did, that’s for sure. He just told me, ‘This is no big deal. Nobody got hurt.’”
The Rhinebergers’ two sons, Matthew and Michael, also are firefighters.
Rebecca Rhineberger said she was thankful that no one was hurt in the fire, but said she still felt a sense of loss.
“That’s our van, and our garage, and our things in them. Carl’s glasses were in the van,” she said. “We have insurance, and I’ll be talking with my agent this afternoon, but there’s still a sadness.”
After flames from the van, a 2007 Buick Terraza, were extinguished, firefighters hauled the van out of the garage and operations started to ensure that there were no “hot spots” in the wooden garage, Boyer said.
He said it took firefighters about 40 minutes to put the fire out.
“No one got hurt, and that’s the main thing,” Boyer said.
While the van was totaled, the garage might be repairable, he said.
Boyer said he believed that the cause of the fire was an electrical failure in the van.
Rebecca Rhineberger said the van had periodic problems with its electrical system.
“The lights would flash on and off, and the alarms would sometimes go off for no reason,” she said. “We had it checked out several times, but no one could find anything.”
She said firefighters told her that it wasn’t likely the van would have caught fire while she was driving it earlier.
“They told me that typically this kind of thing happens after it sits for a while,” Rhineberger said.
She said she has a special treat in store for Daisy, the “rescue mutt” who alerted her to the fire.
“I was downstairs folding laundry, and I would have been down there for a lot longer if she wasn’t barking so much. This could have been so much worse, and it could have spread to the house,” she said. “I’ll have to go to John’s Butcher Shoppe and get her a big, juicy bone.”