Fires in Residential Garages Always Dangerous

Editor's Note: The following features are from Lakeville Police Chief Thomas Vonhof's weekly newsletter, "Breezes."

Fires in residential garages are always dangerous because of the potential for the presence of flammable items that can be stored in garages and how fast these fires can turn from small fires into very large fires. This past week, Officers Adam Stier  and Jai Hanson saw that first hand when they responded to a report of a residential fire that started in a garage that was attached to the residence.

When the officers initially arrived at the residence, there was black smoke billowing from the open garage door. Flames were soon visible through the black smoke as the fire rapidly grew larger. Lakeville Fire Department units arrived on the scene and extinguished the blaze before it could move out of the garage, but the garage and the house were both heavily damaged. Fortunately, no one in the house was injured in the fire, but three LFD firefighters sustained minor injuries fighting the blaze.

The garage fire appeared to start in the area of the garage around a lawnmower. The lawnmower was put away in the garage shortly before the fire started, but the exact cause of the fire has not yet been determined. Once the Lakeville Fire Department units arrive on the scene of a working fire, our police officers will assist with traffic direction and crowd control. The officers will also work with the firefighters to see if they can help to determine the proximate cause of the fire.

VEHICLE RECOVERED BEFORE THEFT REPORT MADE

Officer Jim Stevens took a report of a stolen vehicle this past week. The owner of the vehicle reported that a house visitor was suspected of stealing the vehicle. While Officer Stevens was filing the report, an alert Dakota Communications Dispatcher discovered that the suspect had been arrested by the Cottage Grove Police Department on arrest warrants and was in the Dakota County Jail. Officer Stevens contacted the Cottage Grove Police Department and discovered that thesuspect did have the victim’s vehicle at the time of the arrest and that it had been towed to the impound lot. The suspect will now face auto theft charges in addition to the warrant charges that she was arrested on. The vehicle will be returned to the owner.

OFFICER ASSISTS WITH FOOD DRIVE

Officer Kevin O’Neill received a thank you from members of the Lakeville Lions Club for helping them with their recent drive for the local food shelf. Officer O’Neill assisted by spending time at the grocery store collection points throughout Lakeville recently. 

The Lakeville Lions food drive collected 1,221 pounds of donated food and $603 in cash donations. The money from the cash donations was then used to purchase 981 pounds of personal hygiene products to also be distributed at the local food shelf.

WEEKLY LPD SNAPSHOT

Sampling of LPD activity for the week of June 7 – June 13, 2013

Traffic crashes 11 Alarms 35 Animal Calls 46

Medical Emergency Calls 26 Thefts 27 Traffic Stops 172