Dupo firefighters got a quick hit on a heavily involved garage fire Sunday night and stopped it from spreading to the nearby residence.

A Dupo police officer spotted the blaze in the 500 block of Florence Avenue just before 8:30 p.m., notified the residents and contacted dispatch to page out the fire department.

Dupo Assistant Fire Chief Monte Miller said that upon arrival, firefighters were met with heavy flames coming from the windows in the garage door, which had been busted from the heat. 

An entrance door to the garage closer to the home was burned through and flames were impinging a wooden-covered patio. Those flames were hit quickly, Miller said, and attention was turned to the interior of the garage. Due to heavy fire conditions and heat, the initial attack was from outside the garage through the entrance door.

Once the flames were knocked down, crews entered the garage to continue attacking the fire, which had been pushed to the rear of the structure.

An additional handline was pulled from the truck and taken to the side and rear of the large detached garage and crews worked to remove siding and soffet to get water into the areas near the roof where the fire had extended and to help ventilate.

In the front of the garage, firefighters cut open the wooden garage door to gain better access to the contents and began moving several items in order to reach hot spots throughout the building.

A thermal imaging camera was used throughout the overhaul phase to identify any areas which had fire extension and may have been smoldering.

Miller told the Republic-Times that although the detached garage suffered heavy fire loss, damage to the covered patio was kept to a minimum and the residence itself was unscathed.

Dupo was assisted on scene by firefighters from Prairie DuPont, Columbia and Cahokia. Dupo police officers were also on hand to assist.

There were no injuries to any firefighters or civilians during the incident.