SMELTERVILLE – Emergency personnel were able to contain a small structure fire Thursday morning to the originally affected building and immediate surrounding area.

Shoshone County Fire District No. 2 chief Mark Aamodt reports that at approximately 5:30 a.m. on March 12, crews were toned out to a report of a structure fire located at 108 Northview in Smelterville.

The first unit on scene was a deputy with the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office, who relayed to responding fire units that a detached garage/storage shed was fully involved.

SCFD No. 1 units from Pinehurst and Kellogg arrived roughly six minutes after the call went out and made access to the scene via an alleyway that runs just north of the burning structure and the home it’s associated with.

Two water hoses were deployed to attack the fire on both sides. Since no human life was threatened, crews worked to limit the damage as best as possible. This included keeping heat away from some overhanging power lines and a disabled truck that was parked next to the garage.

While the incident was fairly straight forward in terms of fighting the fire, Aamodt did note that things did get a little slick for crews since it was early in the morning a outside temperatures were still below freezing.

After a little over two hours on scene, crews were successful in suppressing the fire and containing the flames to original structure.

Aamodt estimates anywhere from $5-$10,000 in damages were caused; this includes the items in/around the structure and the old wooden garage itself.

The cause of the fire is undetermined at this time and is still under investigation.