ROYAL CITY – Grant County PUD fiber communications service to much of the Royal Slope was interrupted by a fire on Dec. 31 that started in an extension cord or the freezer it was powering.

Grant County Fire Districts Nos. 10-11 responded to the garage fire at 109 Daisy St. in Royal City at 11 a.m. They put the fire out, but not before it destroyed the garage and damaged a nearby motor home, storage building and PUD fiber.

“I heard the last of the computers that was affected was back on line this morning,” Fire Chief Brian Evans said on Jan. 4.

According to Evans, an investigation settled on the extension cord or the freezer as the cause. He estimated damages at $40,000 for the garage and its contents. He did not have an estimate of damage to nearby structures or the PUD's fiber.

Evans said it took 10 firefighters, including eight volunteers, about an hour to put out the blaze. There was about two hours of mop-up. An ambulance was on hand only to serve firefighter needs.