Heat lamp likely culprit in Ephrata area fire

EPHRATA – On Sunday morning at around 8:30 a.m. Grant County Fire District 13 responded to a structure fire in the 129000 block of Road C.5 Northwest. Engine 1311 arrived at an outbuilding that was fully engulfed in flames. The outbuilding normally housed goats and chickens, all goats were accounted for, but a few chickens may have passed.  

“We arrived on scene, our apparatus, and we stretched out an inch and three-quarter line, and we put out the fire,” GCFD 13 Chief Jim Stucky said.  

GCFD 13 said it took around 6,000 gallons of water and firefighters an hour to extinguish and mop up the fire.  

“We had the water available, so we used it,” Stucky said. “We had a lot of mops up to do. The fire was knocked down pretty quickly. Just mopping up takes a while.” 

Stucky said mopping up is the process of taking apart the remainder of the building and making sure there are no lit embers, and the scene is “cold” with no potential to reignite.  

The cause has not been confirmed; however, it appears a heat lamp may have started the fire. 

GCFD 13 strongly encourages anyone using heat lamps to have an automatic shut-off in case they get knocked over. Also be sure to keep combustible materials away from the heat lamp.  

“Heat lamps are in my opinion, a bad idea where there's any kind of chance that it can be pulled down, moved towards like straw or hay or anything like that, because over time, it develops some pretty good heat, and it can easily start hairs draw on fire,” Stucky said. “It just has to be securely fashioned and away from any kind of combustible materials if you are going to use a heat lamp. There isn’t really a better alternative, but they do cause a lot of fires.”