(La Porte, IN) - Fire consumed a two-car garage in La Porte and practically all of the contents therein, including three motor vehicles. Among the destroyed items in the garage were a Chevy Tahoe and a Harley Davidson motorcycle.

 

The fire broke out Friday at about 4:30 p.m. in the 900 block of Scott Street.

 

La Porte Fire Chief Andy Snyder said it appeared the fire was connected to work the property owner was doing inside the detached garage grinding metal. He said the man stopped and left, but sparks generated by the grinder apparently landed in some combustible material that smoldered for some time until bursting into flames.

 

Snyder said the fire was pretty much throughout the structure when firefighters arrived.

 

“We were able to bring it under control relatively quickly within about 20 minutes or so,” he said.

 

Amanda Davis said practically everything her husband owned, including a lot of tools he acquired over the past 30 years, was destroyed. She said he was restoring the Chevy Tahoe for his father.

 

“Things can be replaced, but the sentiment of them can’t- can’t be,” she said.

 

Davis said nobody was inside when her 14-year-old daughter, from her upstairs bedroom window, discovered smoke and flames coming from the structure about 30 minutes after her husband came out of the garage and went somewhere. 

 

“We grabbed our stuff and ran out the front door,” she said.

 

The house about 30 feet away from the garage was not damaged.

 

Davis also thanked emergency responders for their work and the 911 dispatcher for her advice on the phone.

 

“I was in pure panic and she kept asking questions and told me to get everybody out. She was just amazing,” she said.