Man Suffers Burns in Garden City Fire

A man was sent to the hospital with minor burns after a fire erupted in the garage of a Garden City house in Cranston on Sunday.

Firefighters rushed to the house at 143 Poplar Drive at around 5 p.m. after a husband and wife heard booms and discovered that a fire had started in the garage.

Cranston Fire Department Dep. Chief Herbert T. Bassett said that crews were able to save the house and stop the fire as it worked its way through the breezeway.

“The guys did a good job, the house didn’t have that much damage,” Bassett said.

The man was transported to Kent County Hospital for minor burns and his wife sat across the street in a plastic lawnchair next to a neighbor who kept her company as she watched firefighters douse the garage and side of the house.

“We heard a boom, and then another boom, and then the house was on fire,” she said.

Bassett said that the fire, which is now under investigation by the state fire marshal, appears to have started in the garage. The fire spread to the breezway and filled the attic of the single-story ranch house with smoke and heat.

Firefighters cut into the roof to vent the smoke and used fans to clear the air inside the house.

In the garage, a Hyundai sedan sat burnt to a crisp. The heat of the fire caused the vinyl siding of the house to melt.

Smoke from the fire could be seen at the nearby Garden City Center shopping center.

The house was built in 1950, according to city records.