WORTHINGTON – An oversized garage used to store vehicles, construction equipment and a variety of tools was destroyed this week by a fire apparently caused by a lightning strike.
“It isn’t official yet but we believe that it was caused by a lightning strike. It was a pretty violent storm that night,” said Michael Dondiego, assistant fire chief in Worthington.
En route to the fire Monday night, Cummington firefighters reported being able to see what looked like a “fire ball in the sky,” according to Cummington Fire Chief Bernie Forgea.
Norman Tebo, who owns the property at 203 Buffington Hill Road where the fire occurred, is a retired builder and contractor.
He said Tuesday he could not estimate the cost of the damage because he had not yet heard from his insurance company.
He said that there was a relatively new pickup truck, forklift, 1977 Harley Davidson, Honda Rebel and 35 years worth of the tools and equipment of his trade in the garage.
“There was so much stuff in there I can’t even begin to say what it all was at the moment,” Tebo said. “Its all gone now.”
Tebo was not home when the fire broke out but said that his girlfriend Deb Crossman and his sister-in-law Carol Tebo, who is visiting from Oklahoma, were in the house when the lightning hit.
“They said they heard the huge boom, but at first they were not sure what it was. Then they saw the flicker of flames,” Tebo said.
The garage was between Tebo’s house and a barn housing four horses.
None of the horses were hurt.
“When I got here, I ran into the barn grabbed some halters and put them on the horses, and took them into the barn” from their fenced-in corral, Tebo said.
Tebo said the house was so close to the fire that firefighters had to douse it with water and foam to keep it from burning. While windows broke from the heat and some shingles were singed and blackened, the house was relatively untouched by the fire.
According to Dondiego, firefighters from Worthington, Chesterfield, Cummington, Hinsdale and Windsor responded to the fire, as well as Worthington and State Police.
“I can’t say enough about what the all of the fire departments did,” Tebo said. “It was incredible that they were able to save the house because it is so close to the garage. Fortunately nobody was hurt and the horses are safe.”
With a lack of fire hydrants, water had to be trucked in to the scene.
“They brought water in tanker trucks,” said Tebo’s son, Seth Tebo, 37, of Worthington. “If they didn’t have that, we would have been doomed and the whole place would have gone up.”
Cummington Fire Chief Bernie Forgea said that his department was responsible for hauling water to the fire. “Our only job that night was to provide water,” he said.
Tebo said that his neighbors began reaching out to him almost immediately, adding that one person offered to give him a car.
Tebo’s longtime business partner Joel Hinton, who was at the scene Tuesday, said the two ran Teton Builders until retiring a couple of years ago.
“It looks like we are going to have something else to build now,” Hinton said.