The Peru Gazette

By John T. Ryan

Peru volunteer firefighters were able to make a good save yesterday morning even though they were short-handed because they had to respond to two calls simultaneously.   Five volunteers were manning the ambulance in response to an ATV accident when the call came from 332 Route 22B, the residence of Norm and Ann Torrance, for a structure fire.

The fire at the Torrance home began in a storage building adjacent to the Torrance’s garage. Ann and Norm were painting in the garage. About 9:30 they took a break and went into the house. Norm happened to look out the window and saw flames and black smoke shooting high from the storage building and toward the garage. He shouted, “Ann, call the fire department.”  Ann Torrance said, “Kathleen Roach was here within two or three minutes.”  Peru Fire Chief Chad Frechette said, “The little building was fully involved when we arrived. We focused on the garage first.”  Frechette explained that with the ambulance call in progress he only had eight to ten personnel to man two trucks, but fortunately they were still able to get the job done.

Thanks to the firefighter’s skilled response the Torrance home is still standing and was a complete save.  The storage building and its contents were destroyed. It housed a gas-powered generator that was timed to come on at 9 a.m. for a fifteen-minute test period every Friday morning. The generator will be investigated as a possible cause of the fire. There was extensive exterior damage to one side of the attached garage and to the soffit area. The interior of the garage was largely undamaged.