Fire Hits Dale Road Garage In Woodbury

A fire broke out at a Dale Road garage on Thursday morning, and investigators are trying to determine what sparked the blaze.

A gas can somehow caught fire and there were several flammable chemicals in the garage at the 9300 block of Dale Road.

“It was a super-heated situation,” Cmdr. John Wallgren told Patch at the scene at about 12:30 p.m. Thursday. The gas can created “a puddle of flames,” he said.

The got the call a little after 11:30 a.m., and firefighters were on the scene six minutes later. The fire was out in about seven minutes, Wallgren said.

The heat inside the two-stall garage, which has no windows, expanded the air and pushed out the bay doors and a support beam. Some of the equipment inside was melted and the area stunk of charred debris and chemicals.

Neighbors who saw smoke emanating from the structure called 911. The homeowner was away at the time. No one was injured.

The Cottage Grove Fire Department responded to help battle the fire. Because there are no nearby fire hydrants, firefighters utilized a 4,000-gallon “water tender," Wallgren said.

All four Woodbury fire stations responded to the fire, which got so hot that some aerosol cans ruptured, Wallgren said.

The homeowner, Bob Fritz, said he had recently cleaned out the garage. He built the Dale Road home in 1979.

“I’m just bummed,” he said.

Fritz said he was planning on going out of town on vacation soon. “I don’t know what’s going to go on now.”

“I’m just glad it’s not my main house,” he said.