Garage, house burn in Sumpter Township in early morning hours

By Rosemary K. Otzman
Independent Editor
A woman was awakened by a noise about 3:30 Saturday morning and looked out the window. She saw her house’s attached garage was on fire.
Sumpter Township Fire Chief Joseph Januszyk said the three people who were in the house were able to escape, including the teenage daughter who was taken to the hospital to be checked out for injuries.
The house is in the 20000 block of Wilmot, near Kozma.
One cat died in the fire and one was still missing, Chief Januszyk said on Monday.
He said three of the four vehicles in the garage were destroyed. Fire fighters were able to pull some of the family’s valuables out of the house.
He said a bunch of guitars were in the house and fire fighters were able to save the guitar that had been owned by the woman’s father and is very valuable to her.
He said the valuables on the lower level were intact until the fire burned through the roof and the roof caved in.
Chief Januszyk said Sumpter called on the Belleville Fire Department for mutual aid to add manpower to their fire fighting.