By Bruce Karnick

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Around 9:45 p.m. on March 21, the Hastings Fire Department answered a house fire call in the townhomes in the 1300 block of North Frontage Road behind Carbone’s Pizza. Within 45 minutes, crews were clearing the scene.

An interview with Assistant Fire Chief Chris Paulson gave details on the situation.

“It appears to be a kitchen fire. When we arrived we had fire and smoke coming from the dwelling here. Crews were quick to get water on the fire and control ventilation and fortunately, really no extension into anywhere else in the structure. There's some smoke damage and a little bit of water damage. But nothing that can't be cleaned up and fixed,” explained Paulson The dwelling was deemed unlivable for the time being and the family was receiving help for alternative arrangements for the night. The thought was that, in the grand scheme of things, it would be one of the easier fires to clean up from to make the home livable again.

Prescott was called for the auto-aid arrangement where the closest additional engine is called in for assistance.

Paulson added, “Fortunately, we were able to muster enough personnel out of Hastings here to handle this one and like I said, the crew got a quick knock down on the fire and that made a big difference. Nobody was hurt. No firefighters were hurt. So that is good. Now just getting cleaned up and getting them back into their house and getting their life back in order.”

Photo by Bruce Karnick