Firefighters put fire out, but say unplowed road slowed them down

EDWARDSBURG, Mich. -- A Michigan family is thankful for the hard work of firefighters who quickly put out flames that engulfed their home on US12.



Porter Fire Chief Michael Holdeman said although they put the fire out quickly, the unplowed road leading up the house slowed them down.



A total of five departments—Porter, Edwardsburg, Newburg, Penn and Bristol responded to the house fire around 3:30 Wednesday afternoon on US12



Crews were able to contain and extinguish the fire quickly.



The unplowed driveway put them at a disadvantage.



“We got within 500 feet of the structure and that was the closest we could get because of the snow,” Chief Holdeman said.



While police managed traffic on US-12 firefighters trudged up a snowy hill to the burning house.



“They’ve put out a lot of energy just to get there. Then they’ve got to do the structural firefighting part which takes a lot of energy as well. So it’s very tiring, it takes us a little longer to get set up,” said Holdeman.



The homeowners said they are grateful to the firefighters who managed to save their home even with snow on the ground and the steep winding road that leads to their home.



“It’s a difficult area to get to in the summer, in dry weather, let alone snowy weather,” Holdeman explained.



The fire chief hasn’t determined the origin of the fire.

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