Bartley man saves home with garden hose

BARTLEY -- A rural Bartley homeowner prevented the loss of his home by battling a fire in Saturday morning's single-digit temperatures and sub-zero wind chill with a garden hose.

Bartley fire chief Jimmy Morris said this morning that if Tom Carpenter had been able to immediately find a garden hose that wasn't frozen, he may have been able to extinguish the flames licking at the west side of his home himself.

As it was, Jimmy Morris said, Tom Carpenter kept the flames at bay until firefighters arrived.

"He saved his house," Morris said, explaining that although Carpenter had to run to a nearby Quonset to find a garden hose that wasn't frozen, he still prevented the complete loss of his house.

Morris said that Tom's wife, Julie, awoke about 3 a.m. to the smell of smoke. The fire appears to have started outside on a deck on the west side of the house and it spread up the siding and into the the eaves, attic and rafters, Morris said. "The roof is real fragile right now," he said.

Although the electricity is on in the house to prevent freezing damage, the Carpenters aren't able to stay in the house, Morris said.

A Nebraska state fire marshal is helping investigate the cause of the fire. Damages are estimated at $35,000 to $45,000.

Morris said 20 firefighters responded from Bartley and Cambridge, whose fire departments provide automatic mutual aid for each other's fire calls. Firefighters left the scene about 8:30 a.m.