FORT COLLINS - A neighbor and passerby said they helped an elderly man out of his smoke-filled garage Tuesday afternoon as a fire burned his home in west Fort Collins.
The resident and another person were treated on the scene by Poudre Valley EMS for smoke inhalation, and about 28 firefighters responded the fire near Blevins Middle School.
The fire was initially reported to dispatch as out, but firefighters arrived to find it had spread to the attic, said Poudre Fire Authority spokesman Patrick Love.
Lonny Nickless said a barking dog and heavy smoke got his attention as he was driving by at work for the city's light and power department. He went to the garage to see a caretaker trying to get the resident out, he said.
He said the appeared to have started in a wood-burning stove.
"Flames were a couple feet off the back door," he said. "It was too smoky to see."
David Alvarado, a neighbor, joined the effort to help the man out of the garage. He said firefighters arrived quickly, "within five minutes, probably. Thank God."
Love said the cause of the fire is being investigated. An estimated $200,000 in property was saved.
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