
By Katherine Murphy
NORMAL– With the sky lit by fireworks, a garage in Normal experienced the same thing.
Normal Firefighters responded to the report of a fire in an attached garage on Wildberry Drive around 9:15 Thursday night.
A passerby reported smoke coming from the garage and it took the fire department about 25 minutes to knock down the main fire.
The homeowners weren’t home at the time and firefighters had to cut through the door of the three car attached garage to reach the blaze.
Investigators confirmed the fire started in a trash can in the garage.
The owner of the home was tracked down and reported to incident command that the family had been shooting off fireworks in the driveway of the home before leaving to see the Sky Concert last night. The family cleaned up the debris from the fireworks and threw it away where the fire ignited after mixing with other materials in the trash can.
The garage sustained heavy smoke and heat damage throughout, but the door to the home was closed and the smoke intrusion into the home was minimal. A damage estimate is not available.
There were no injuries reported.
Normal Fire Department urges everyone to leave the fireworks to the professionals. Fireworks start an average of 18,500 fires per year, including 1,300 structure fires, 300 vehicle fires, and 16,900 outside fires.