Missoula Rural Fire Crews Make Short Work of Mount Avenue Garage Fire

Missoula Rural Fire crews responded to a structure fire on Mount Avenue on Tuesday afternoon.

Captain Paul Finlay said the 9-1-1 call was received at about 4:00 p.m.

"We were dispatched to a structure fire in the 3700 block of Mount Avenue," Finlay said. "We arrived on scene to find a single story house with a two car garage with smoke billowing out. There was a neighbor on scene who had a garden hose with water running inside the garage window. We were unable to open the garage door, so we took a demolition saw which gave us better access to put out the fire."

Finley said the occupants if the house were not home at the time.

"We responded with two engines, three water tenders, a ladder truck and a battalion chief," he said. "It was actually a pretty quick scene for us. We were able to knock down the fire in less than an hour, and we made sure there were no hot spots that might spread to the house. We were wrapped up and out of there in just a couple of hours."

Finlay said there was no damage estimate available.