A quick-thinking police officer used a garden hose to keep a deck fire from spreading to the inside of a house Wednesday afternoon.
The officer was working a road detail and noticed smoke coming from the rear of a house on 45 Farnsworth St. He checked it out and found the back of the house and part of the deck on fire, said Fire Capt. Brian Tetreault, head of the Arson and Bomb Squad.
He called the Fire Department, alerted the resident and was able to keep the fire under control until firefighters arrived, he said. Firefighters arrived at about 2:30 p.m. and quickly extinguished the flames. The fire caused about $5,000 in damage and no one was injured, Tetreault said.
An investigation by the Fire Department’s Arson and Bomb Squad determined the fire was caused by improper disposal of smoking materials, he said.