BELGRADE — A teenage baby-sitter managed to get two children and the family dog out of the house during a fire that destroyed a home on Smithfield Road in North Belgrade on Monday afternoon.
No one was harmed in the blaze, but the family lost “irreplaceable” belongings in the house they’d just moved into three weeks ago.
Additional Photos
By about 1:30 p.m., firefighters from Belgrade, Mount Vernon, Oakland, Rome and Smithfield had contained the fire to the rear half of the house by pumping brownish water from a nearby brook onto the flames, but soon they were forced to call for more backup when flames erupted from the second-floor window of the front of the house, threatening two pine trees growing in the front yard.
By 2 p.m., firefighters surrounded all four sides of the house as green-tinged smoke poured from various areas of the house, forming a large cloud.
Firefighters continued to combat the flames into the late afternoon.
Baby sitter escapes
Amanda Garboski, 17, was baby-sitting Eli Tozir, 10, and Sophia Tozir, 8, for the first time at the house at 637 Smithfield Road, which is Route 8.
Garboski said that around 1 p.m., smoke detectors in the home started going off, but she couldn’t see or smell any smoke.
“I tried to turn them off, but they just wouldn’t stop beeping,” she said. “I was on the phone with the parents.”
After about half an hour of trying to turn off the detectors and remaining in contact with Kevin and Angelia Tozir, Garboski said that she heard a popping noise coming from outside the house.
Smoke started to fill the kitchen and computer room, and Garboski opened a side door to the outside of the house, where she saw flames on the outside of the garage.
Garboski shouted for the children, and everyone ran from the structure, including Abby, the family’s pomeranian-shih tzu mix.
Once they were outside, Garboski dialed 911 and tried to comfort the children, who watched as the flames began to spread from the attached garage to the entire rear of the house.
“They broke down in tears,” Garboski said.
“She did a great job of getting them out of the house,” said Kevin Tozir, the children’s father.
New home lost
Tozir said that, when he and his family began renting the farmhouse at 637 Smithfield Road three weeks ago, they were thrilled.
It was a big step forward from the family’s trailer, which Tozir described as cramped, and he said that they were seriously considering a rent-to-own option.
“We were looking forward to staying here for a long time,” Tozir said.
Tozir, employed at aluminum trailer business ALCOM Inc. in Winslow and as a photographer on the side, said that the renters’ insurance would cover most of the financial loss, but that several irreplaceable photographs were destroyed.
He said that he knew of nothing in the garage that was likely to cause a fire, so he suspects the fire was caused by the house’s electrical system.
Tozir said the home dated back to the 1800s. Hand-hewn beams added to the building’s charm, but also were not as fire-resistant as a more modern building would be.
For the short term, Tozir said, the family will stay with relatives in the area while they try to plan their next move.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.