FAIRMONT, W.Va. — A Fairmont house fire Monday morning is being blamed on an electric golf cart purchased hours before.
Members of the Valley Volunteer Fire Department were called to 800 block of the Market Street Extension at 10:46 a.m. and found the home to be on fire with what was thought to be a side-by-side, according to Deputy Chief Zac Eakle.
“We conducted fire suppression and knocked the fire in the room down and in the adjacent room along with knocking the side-by-side fire out,” Eakle said.
Eakle said there wasn’t much left of the golf cart by the time they arrived, but they attacked that fire and quickly moved to the interior of the residence.
“The fire was already into the house, well involved and making it’s way up the roof,” Eakle said. “We cooled that golf cart down to give us time to get in there to get fire suppression and get that fire knocked.”
Eakle said when the homeowner arrived to the scene he explained he had purchased the golf cart just hours before. The home owner parked the golf cart and left the property, when the blaze broke out a neighbor contacted 911.
“It wasn’t a side-by-side, it was a golf cart that was bought an hour before the fire,” Eakle said. “He just parked in front of his house and left then the neighbor called and told him it was on fire.”
At the time of the fire, Eakle said the golf cart was not plugged into an electrical outlet, so the cause of the fire remains unclear.
“It had a full-charged battery he said, a lithium ion battery-powered golf cart and it just caught fir right there in front of the house,” Eakle said.
No injuries were reported and the family dog was able to escape with the help of his neighbor.
No damage estimate is available.
Story by Mike Nolting, WAJR