Crews battle garage explosion, fire in Walworth County

WALWORTH COUNTY -- Fire crews were on the scene of an explosion in an attached garage that left the garage destroyed and damaged a home Monday afternoon, June 4th in Walworth County.

It happened at a home in the Town of Spring Prairie around 1:30 Monday afternoon.

Officials at the scene told FOX6 News a family of four was in the home at the time of the incident, plus a friend of the daughter who is in college. Two dogs were rescued by the family, and one cat was rescued by firefighters. The mother suffered only a minor burn injury.

Officials say the father heard a loud noise in the garage around 2:00 Monday afternoon, shortly after he had mowed the lawn and placed the mower in the garage. The father said he opened the door, saw flames and got the whole family out of the home.

When the fire department arrived on the scene, the garage was fully engulfed in flames. The fire chief believes without their intervention, the home would have burned to the ground.

Fire officials believe something in the garage caught fire. They believe they've determined the cause, but want to continue their investigation.

Officials say they believe the home is not a total loss, and can be repaired depending on how the family's insurance company decides to proceed.

Craig Severson is one of only a few homeowners on Clayton Court in Spring Prairie, so when he heard an explosion had set a house on fire on that street, he rushed home.

"There's only seven houses on this road, so we didn't know. Could be ours! Kind of scary until I got down to the intersection and saw that it was, unfortunately, the neighbors'," Severson said.

Jeremy Kuta had beaten Severson to the scene. Kuta was on his way home from final exams at school when he saw the plume of smoke coming from his neighborhood. Kuta snapped a couple shots of the chaos.

"When I got here the garage was still intact. The fire looked like it started from the garage. It was still intact, but the roof was just totally gone," Kuta said.

Neighbors say they're willing to help the family in any way they can. "Whatever they need, we're here," Severson said.

Monitor FOX6 News and FOX6Now.com for updates on this developing story.