This story clarifies details on the Monday, January 20, house fire that destroyed the dwelling at 364 Oakwood Avenue and damaged the two homes on either side.

Once the fire was extinguished, Bill Bendele took down the structure for safety.

Credit Kane, a golden retriever, for alerting the five occupants.  Kane is the family pet of Gary and Amy Watkins, and their two sons, 18 year old Garrett, and 12 year old Vinny.  All, including an overnight guest and the family cat, escaped unharmed.

The Watkins:  Vinny, Amy, Gary, with Kane, the wonder-dog

Gary tells how he was awakened at about 6 am by Kane’s barking, and tried to quiet the dog.  That awaken Amy who looked out the back window and saw the garage on fire. Gary got up and told everyone to get out of the house.  “Within 10 or 15 minutes of getting out of the house and pulling the cars out of the driveway, the house was fully engulfed with flames.”

They left the house with little more than the clothes on their backs.  Gary says, “We had no time at all.  It was so quick.”  Amy says their son Garrett, who is a student at Jackson College and wants to be a music teacher, grabbed his laptop. “He is a music major, and he lost all of his instruments.”  Gary adds he had “three or four guitars, a trombone, keyboard, he lost everything. My youngest son lost his trumpet.  Those are the things we don’t know how we’re going to replace.”  So far, the family hasn’t learned what insurance will cover.  Gary says his son has started a gofundme page (click here).

Amy Wilson Watkins grew up at Clark Lake.  Gary and Amy started their family while living in Brooklyn and moved into the Oakwood house about ten years ago.  Gary Watkins is from Vandercook.  Currently, the Watkins are staying in Amy’s parents home next door.

Firefighters arrived at the scene as soon as possible.  Spraying the two adjacent homes prevented the fire from spreading.  Although they were damaged, Columbia Charter Township Fire Chief Scott Cota says “a quick knock-down stopped the two neighboring homes from burning any further.”  The chief also notes winds resulted in the rapid spread of the fire, and “the extreme cold also played a part in getting a steady flow of water established.”

John Calhoun, a neighbor, told how the embers spread.  “It was good thing snow was on the roofs.  You could see the embers land and the snow extinguished them.”  Embers also drifted onto the lake, which caused no harm.

Neighbors also heard what they thought was gunfire.  They weren’t wrong about the sound.  The fire ignited ammo that had been stored.

The Columbia Fire Department’s actions stopped a situation that could have grown much worse.  Chief Cota commented on the “incredible work of the fire crews on the scene.”  Others at the scene included Township, State Police, and fire departments from Summit, Napoleon, Grass Lake, Somerset, and Liberty.  Along with the manpower, the water they brought aided the fight.  JDart was on hand in support of the firefighters.

The location of the house is outlined in purple.