A three alarm early Tuesday morning fire in Grand Junction results in severe property damage.

Greene County Deputy Kirk Hammer says at 4:53am this morning, the Grand Junction Fire and Rescue Department, the Churdan and Jefferson fire departments, the Greene County Emergency Medical Services and the sheriff’s office responded to a structure fire at 508 South 11th Street in Grand Junction.

Hammer states that the homeowner, Keisha Kopecky was warming up her vehicle inside her garage when something malfunctioned in the engine catching the vehicle on fire.  When he arrived on the scene, several fire departments were already there and the fire had spread to the garage and then to the second floor of the two-story house.

By the time that most of the fire was put out, two vehicles, the garage and the second floor were are total losses and some fire damage was done to a neighboring garage south wall at 506 South 11th Street.

Deputy Hammer suggests that to avoid a fire during the wintertime, its better to leave your vehicle outside of our garage.

“Never warm them up in the garage.  Always back the vehicle up before you warm them up.  The extreme cold like this, you know you’re engine is working harder, you really need to have them outside in the open air before you let them sit idle and let them get warm.”

He points out that it was eight degrees below zero and there was ice everywhere due to the water from the hoses, but Hammer adds, no one was injured in the incident.

Following photos are courtesy of the Greene County Sheriff’s Office: