(Updated Jan. 30 at 6:15 pm) The Grand Junction and Jefferson fire departments can go weeks or even months without being called to a structure fire, but they were called to two fires in just 30 hours Tuesday and Wednesday. Greene county sheriff’s deputies responded to the fires also.
Both departments, the Churdan fire department and Greene County EMS responded Jan. 28 at 4:53 am to a house fire at 508 S. 11th St in Grand Junction. The house is owned by Keisha Marie Kopecky.
According to Kopecky, she had started her car in the garage to warm up as she finished preparing for work. When she returned to the car, it wasn’t running and she could smell fumes; the fire started under the hood. She went inside and awakened her school-age son and another adult in the house, and then called for help. She alerted her neighbor because of the nearness of that garage.
Everyone was outside before the fire spread to the corner of the house, Kopecky said. She described standing outside waiting for the fire trucks to arrive as “the most awful feeling. I was so helpless, knowing that my house was going to catch on fire, and I couldn’t do anything. I didn’t even have a hose.”
There was major damage to the roof and extensive water and smoke damage throughout the house. Both vehicles in the garage were a total loss.
Siding on the garage to the north, which is owned by Davy Cooklin, also received major damage.
The firefighters were called Wednesday at 11:55 am to a fire at a hoop structure at 2209 230th St, just south of Grand Junction, at the home of Jeff and Juanita Gilley. The Paton and Ogden fire departments and Boone County EMS also responded. The fire was thought to have been caused by a heat lamp in the building.
An estimated 22 sheep and goats that were housed in the hoop structure perished in the fire. Straw, feed, and equipment was also lost, Grand Junction fire chief Mark Renslow said.
Renslow did not have damage estimates for either fire.
The Jefferson and Grand Junction fire departments also responded to a house fire in Jefferson last Friday night. The homeowner was injured and two dogs were killed in that fire.
