(La Porte County, IN) - A man using a blow torch to try and thaw a frozen water pipe accidentally caught his house on fire Monday night outside of La Porte.

 

Emergency responders were called to 115 Maple Drive on the Island of Pine Lake at around 7 p.m. The homeowner, Donald Boody, 81, said he was using a blow torch on a water faucet on the outside of the home, when the material underneath the aluminum siding caught fire, according to La Porte County Police. 

 

Center Township Fire Captain Eric Haverstock said the flames started moving up the outside wall, but the man was able to put out most of the flames. Haverstock said firefighters extinguished the rest of the fire and removed several panels of aluminum siding to make sure there were no remaining hot spots inside the wall.

 

Police said there was moderate damage to the outside wall, and minimal damage to the inside of the residence. Boody will still be able to live at the residence.

 

Haverstock said the brutally cold temperatures would have been more of an issue had the fire required more time and water to extinguish. He said Boody was trying to unfreeze a pipe in the basement that provides water throughout the single story home.