HFD

At 3:30 p.m. Saturday City of Hays emergency dispatchers were alerted to a building fire near the intersection of 17th and Milner Streets. The City of Hays Fire Department, assisted by Ellis County EMS and the City of Hays Police Department, was immediately dispatched.

On arrival firefighters found a small fire in the rear of a single family dwelling at 1602 Milner Street. The fire involved the energized electrical service box on the outside rear of the structure. A team of firefighters used one fire extinguisher to control the electrical fire and one fire attack hose to extinguish the fire on the outside of the building. A second firefighter team advanced another fire attack hose into the building as a precaution and checked to make sure the fire had not spread inside the walls or other concealed locations. One fire hydrant was used for water supply. A Midwest Energy technician disconnected the electrical power at the power pole.

The occupants were not home at the time of the fire. Alert neighbors called 911 before the fire could do more significant damage. The building suffered damage to the outside rear wall and some smoke damage inside. Firefighters removed three family pets, two dogs and a cat, before they could be sickened by the smoke.

The most probable cause of the fire was a failure of the electrical equipment in the service box.

Thirteen firefighters staffing four fire trucks responded. The last fire crew left the scene at 4:36 PM.