Family safe after neighbor sees fire

Published: 10/17/2013 7:45 PM | Last update: 10/17/2013 8:27 PM

By Ken Stephens – The Hutchinson News – kstephens@hutchnews.com

A family of three escaped unharmed from a fire that destroyed their home at 2820 St. Elmo Drive earlier this week, thanks to a neighbor who woke up during the night, saw the flames and rushed across the street to pound on the door until he woke the couple and their young daughter.

Jeff Rogers, speaking reluctantly about the incident, said he was awakened by the sound of the fire popping just before 2:30 a.m. Tuesday. At first he though it was rain hitting the roof, but then he saw the flames coming from the home of Jerrod Goetz, Ashley Genschorck and their daughter.

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Rogers woke his wife, Mollie, who said she noticed an orange glow through the curtains. They weren’t sure if Goetz and his family were home, so Jeff Rogers dashed across the street and began pounding on the door, while Mollie Rogers trailed him while dialing 911 on her cellphone.

Jeff Rogers said it didn’t take long until Goetz and his family, who could not be reached for comment, woke up and got out of the house.

Rogers said he didn’t think he and his wife had done anything any other neighbor wouldn’t have done upon noticing the fire.

Deputy Hutchinson Fire Chief Mike Miller said the fire began in the attached garage but by the time the first units arrived the house was fully involved in flames. Six Hutchinson fire engines were dispatched to the scene, Miller said, while water tenders from the Buhler, Arlington and Nickerson fire districts formed a water shuttle because there wasn’t a fire hydrant in the rural neighborhood just northwest of Hutchinson.

It took about an hour to bring the fire under control, Miller said.

The cause of the fire, Miller said, is undetermined at this point.

The 1,900-square-foot, ranch-style house, at the end of a cul-de-sac north of Hendricks Street, was pretty much a total loss, Miller said. Four vehicles, two of which were in the garage and two of which were parked outside, also were gutted. Miller estimated total damage at $145,000.

The garage area at the north end of the house burned to the ground. At least two-thirds of the remainder of the house was gutted, with the roof burned away or collapsing. The bedrooms at the south end of the house, farthest from the fire’s starting point, were the least damaged.

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