Published Saturday
November 18, 2000Steel Frame May Have Helped Fire Spread in Regent's Home
BY CHRISTOPHER BURBACH and TOM SHAW
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITERSAfter being unable to put out flames that were consuming the garage, University of Nebraska Regent Drew Miller and his family had to quickly escape from their Papillion home.
Drew Miller’s home was
destroyed by fire.There was no time to take anything with them. "It was clear we weren't going to be able to do a thing,"
Miller said Friday afternoon.The early morning fire destroyed Miller's home.
His family escaped injury.The blaze was started by hot embers placed in the garage, Papillion Fire Chief Rich Schmitz said. Miller discovered the fire about 5:30 a.m.
Miller said he was already up to start his day and placed a bucket of wood stove ashes in the garage. The bucket was made of plastic, he said. The ashes were not smoking and he thought they were cold, Miller said, but papers in the garage were ignited.
When the house's smoke alarm system went off, he opened the door to the garage and discovered the fire, he said. Miller called 911.
His wife, daughter, and his wife's parents were all awakened by the alarm. Schmitz said fire crews got to the house within three minutes of being dispatched. As firefighters arrived, flames were coming out of the garage's roof, he said.
"It was well on its way when we got there," Schmitz said about the house being engulfed in flames.
The fire moved fast and left little. Schmitz said it was reported at 5:31 a.m., and the first firetruck arrived at 5:34 a.m. at the house, 1904 Barrington Parkway.
Late Friday morning, heavy equipment was tearing down part of the shell of the house so State Fire Marshal's investigators could safely enter.
Miller, recently re-elected, left the scene about 9 a.m. A dog belonging to Miller's in-laws could not be found. A Miller family dog and two of the in-laws other dogs were safe. Schmitz said the fire started in the direction from which the wind was blowing. That probably was one reason the blaze burned so quickly through the house, he said. The home's construction - steel frame and wood-shake roof - might also have contributed to the fire's speed, the fire chief said.
The metal studs might have continued to prop up wood in the walls while the wood burned, providing further fuel and ventilation for the blaze.
Schmitz said that there was no collapse of the structure itself, even though the floor inside was destroyed. "When they (metal studs) hold the building up like that, it permits the fire to burn," he said. Not falling in on itself allows more air in the house and the fire burns quicker and hotter, Schmitz said.
Wooden houses collapse, he said, when the studs burn up with the wall.
This is the first metal frame house fire that Papillion has handled that Schmitz can remember, he said. Schmitz said that regardless of a home's construction, following fire safety tips is key. He said embers should be disposed of in a metal bucket and the bucket placed outside.
The house stood on the northwest corner lot of Barrington Parkway and Schram Road, in a neighborhood of newer homes southwest of 84th Street and Nebraska Highway 370. A small stand of trees buffered Miller's house from Schram Road, a gravel street that cuts between houses and farm fields.
"It was just such a gorgeous, gorgeous house," neighbor Michelle Worcester said. The four-bedroom home, with an estimated market value of $301,847, was completed in 1994. It had 31/2 bathrooms, a wood stove and fireplace and a wooden deck.
Miller said the wood stove was part of a half-finished basement.
The builder of the home offered to construct it with a steel frame at the same price as wood, Miller said.
As firefighters poured water on what remained of the house, Worcester collected names and numbers of fellow neighbors who wanted to help. Among those offering assistance was Bill Motsko, an Air Force officer and friend of Miller's.
"Drew's a good man and has a lot of friends," Motsko said. "It's just a crying shame."
Miller, a 42-year-old Air Force veteran, has been a regent since 1994.
