Hose Lines Lead to Firefighters Inside the Burning Lady Lake Home Searching for Trapped Residents

Lady Lake, FL – Firefighters took about 40 minutes to bring a house fire under control in the April Hill’s subdivision in Lady Lake Wednesday morning. Units from Lake County, The Villages and Fruitland Park all responded to assist in the extinguishment. “Our first two trucks arrived in about 5 minutes and found the fire had vented through the roof of the garage and the garage was pretty much consumed” explains Lt. Brian Gamble, Vice President of the Professional Firefighters of Lake County. “We had reports of the house possibly still having people inside, so our primary mission was search and rescue when we arrived.” Neighbors broke the windows out looking for the family that lived in the home before the firefighters arrived. “They weren’t sure if they were home. There was two cars in the driveway, so that is a good indication someone may be home.” Firefighters searched the house with thermal imaging cameras in dark black smoke that billowed to the floor. “You literally couldn’t see your hand in front of your face with smoke that thick” Gamble states. “The thermal cameras are an invaluable tool for helping in conditions such as this, as they pick up images of body heat.” Firefighters did not find anyone in the home.

“The garage, kitchen and living room were a loss, but we were able to save most of their belongings, such as clothes and keepsakes. We saved about 70 percent of the house, which is pretty good considering the amount of fire we were facing when we arrived”. Neighbors called in the fire after seeing smoke billowing out of the eves. One neighbor reported seeing fire along the ceiling in the attic when he came over to help. The home owner had apparently left to run to the store moments before the fire started.

Lake County Fire Investigator Captain Mike Vitta investigated the blaze. He believes the fire was caused by an electrical shortage or malfunction in the attic space of the garage.

“This has been a busy few weeks for house fires” according to Gamble. Lake County firefighters have had 7 working fires in the last 10 days.

Two cats were still missing and a small chicken coop did not make it through the fire reports Gamble. “We are just glad that no citizens or firefighters were hurt today and we were able to save as much as possible for the homeowner”.

Lake County Firefighters respond to an emergency call on average every 28 minutes and respond to an actual fire call on average every 12 hours.