Home sustains minimal damage in structure fire, no injuries

MANISTIQUE — A home sustained minimal damage and no one was injured in a Manistique Township structure fire on Thursday night, thanks to two of the homeowner’s neighbors.

Manistique Public Safety and Volunteer Fire Officers were called to a home on fire at 7062 W. Tannery Road in Manistique Township at 10:37 p.m. Upon arriving at the scene, officers found that a wood storage pile next to the north wall of the home was on fire with high flames, and that the rear wooden porch had caught on fire.

Officers immediately extinguished the fire with minimal damage to the home. The homeowner, Richard Weber, was sleeping inside the home at the time of the fire and was uninjured.

Investigators say that a neighbor, Jeannie Jenerou, had been awakened by her dog, Shifoo, who wanted to go outside. Jenerou then let the dog out and noticed large flames in the back of the Weber home.

Jenerou contacted another neighbor, Dennis Kelly, who called 911. Kelly then went to the home and woke up Weber, alerting him of the fire.

Officers credit Weber’s neighbors for saving the home and possibly his life. According to Manistique Public Safety, a structure fire that occurs in the evening hours can result in the total loss of the home and/or loss of life due to the fire not being detected until it is large and out of control. In this case, the wood pile was stored very close to the south wall of the unsided, two-story wood frame home and a full blown structure fire was imminent with the homeowner asleep inside.

Investigators determined that the fire probably started from embers from a wood burning chimney, which fell into the woodpile, eventually starting the fire.