Only In Michigan

[Dave]

Gotta like the ingenuity... still sounds funny though.. haha

 

DIORITE -- The cause of a fire that broke out Monday night at 58 County Road 496 is still under investigation.  But the one thing we do know is that things would be looking much worse for the home if it weren't for a very kind and creative neighbor.

Most people wouldn't think to use a snow blower to put out a house fire...but Steve Liubakka of Diorite did.

"I emptied a thirty pounder on there; I knew it was a bigger fire than the 30 pounder was, but the fire was coming out of the picture window and it was up above the eves," says Liubakka.

That's when he resorted to a 32-inch cut, 13 horse power Ariens snow blower to cool the flames.

"I knew she was very hot when I went up to her with the chemical fire extinguisher, so two things you have to do is get the temperature down and the oxygen out of there." Liubakka says

Liubakka blew 16 inches of snow into the front window of the house where the fire started, which the homeowner says helped extinguish the flames.

"If you looked inside there,you can see the heat was tremendous.  t melted everything in every room--it went through there with the heat, with the snow going in there, it knocked it down," says Joseph Cadeau, who owns the burned home.

Cadeau doesn't know if they'll be able to save the home, but he's grateful for all Liubakka did to help.

"He's an excellent neighbor, I thank him very much," Liubakka says.

And as for Liubakka, he's just glad he thought of using the snow blower when he did.

"The fire chief told us, well if it wasn't for the snow blower, you wouldn't have a house.  The snow blower isn't a $550,000 fire truck, but it did the job," Liubakka says.

Fortunately, no one was injured in the fire.  The Ishpeming Township Fire Department will be investigating the cause of the fire and the damages over the next few days.

[masonco]

Nice!

[Sweater Cows!]

good idea

[XLFD]

This isn't the first time a snow blower has been used to put out a fire, and the other time I know of it was right here in Ludington.

Back about four years ago, the Ludington Fire Department was dispatched to a car fire about this time of year which had gotten out of hand.  Whe Chief Funk arrived on scene, another crafty neighbor, I forget who, had been snow blowing and had trained there snow blower on the car and knocked the fire down, probably saving the car from being a total loss.  By the time we arrived in the first truck, there was only the fire report left to make out.

I always thought that was neat, but this is the first time I've heard it used to snuff a house fire.