An Estevan resident was able to escape without injury after a serious house fire last Wednesday.
The blaze, which occurred in a home on Wellock Road, destroyed the residence's garage and caused some damage to the house as well.
Deputy Fire Chief Dale Feser said the Estevan Fire Rescue Service was alerted to the fire at 12:30 p.m. and were on scene a short time later.
"Upon arrival I observed that the garage portion of the house was fully involved already," said Feser. "We wanted to make sure that we could save the rest of the house. The fire crews were on scene within eight minutes and contained the fire to the garage portion, saving the main house structure."
Feser credited the actions of the home's lone occupant with helping to keep the fire from spreading and causing further damage.
"She did an awesome job," he said. "What had happened was she heard some noises and went upstairs to investigate and saw some smoke whisking in the front door entrance. She happened to open the entrance to the garage and discovered the fire which was very sizeable at that time and immediately closed the door to the garage thereby containing it there and preventing the spread of the fire and got the heck out and phoned 911 at the same time."
"That, coupled with our response time, allowed the fire crews to contain and prevent the fire from responding to the main house."
Feser said they are certain the fire originated in the garage but have not yet nailed down the cause. It is not considered to be suspicious in nature. He estimated the damage to be over $100,000.
"It was a significant loss."
