Silver Lake vacation home damaged by fire

OCP file photo

By Allison Scarbrough, News Editor

GOLDEN TOWNSHIP — A fire damaged a vacation rental home on Silver Lake Monday evening, July 14.

The blaze ignited at 1488 North Shore Dr. around 5:30 p.m., and firefighters remained on scene for about three hours, said Hart Area Fire Department Public Information Officer Troy Maloney, who is the Oceana County Emergency Manager.

“It is a vacation rental property that was occupied by a couple families,” said Maloney. “Smoke detectors alerted them, and they evacuated.” No one was injured. “Hart fire units arrived to find heavy fire in a utility room and bathroom. They got a good knock-down on it and kept the damage to those rooms and light smoke damage in the rest of the house. It was a great stop.” There was also some minimal damage to the exterior siding of the house.

“There was an extensive overhaul in those rooms, because the original fire was in the crawl space, which wasn’t accessible. So firefighters had to use chainsaws to cut out the flooring to get down in there and get the rest of the fire extinguished, so we didn’t have any rekindles.” 

The renters were not able to stay at the house after the fire, although the two-story home is “very salvageable,” said Maloney. “It wasn’t occupiable, because of damage to the utilities.” 

“The smoke detectors worked — the owner had just changed the batteries last week.”

The Hart Area Fire Department received automatic aid from Shelby-Benona and Pentwater departments, and Ferry Township Fire Department was later called to bring in a water tender. North Shore Drive was closed in the vicinity of the fire.

“We used water from the well that Golden Township put in. That’s a fantastic asset.” Just over 2,500 gallons of water were used to extinguish the fire, he said.

“The fire appears to have started in a crawl space. It went up through the walls and into a utility room and bathroom.” The cause of the fire is unknown, but it is not suspicious. The home is insured.

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