Wind helps fire destroy home on Burtrig in VBT on Saturday morning

Twenty-mile-per-hour winds blew a fire through a home on Burtrig Drive in Van Buren Township at about 1:30 a.m. Saturday, destroying the building.
VBT Fire Chief Dave McInally said the fire started on the back deck and no cause had been determined as of Tuesday. He said the winds blew the fire through the house and it was fully engulfed, with fire in all of the rooms, when the fire department arrived. He said it was a defensive fire and there was a hydrant in front of the house which helped.
He said the female stayed in the house longer than she should have and suffered smoke inhalation while trying to round up her cats. Chief McInally said three cats perished in the blaze. Huron Valley Ambulance transported the woman to the hospital for evaluation and she was released the next day.
He said the male tried to enter the house to save the animals but was unable to get past the flames.
Helping Van Buren Township fight the fire were fire fighters and equipment from the City of Belleville, Sumpter Township, City of Romulus and Ypsilanti Township. Chief McInally said Van Buren arrived at the scene at 1:36 a.m. and left at 6 a.m.
On Tuesday morning around 10, VBT fire fighters were called to the 9500 block of Rolan Meadows after an electrical transformer popped, fell down, and was arcing and caused a grass fire. Fire fighters got the fire extinguished and left DTE on the scene to fix the electrical system.