Neighbors rushed to lend a hand, some even trying to string water hoses across their yards, but the fire was just too strong.
“Next thing, I looked over and it looked like two cars were starting to be engulfed in the fire,” said Boyer. “Really there wasn't anything we could do about it. We couldn't, couldn't try to fight it.”
The heat from the garage fire was so intense it was able to melt the siding on the back of the house, about 15 feet away. On the other side of that siding, slept the owners' infant son.
“Nobody got hurt, that's the good thing,” said Fahrbach.
What appears to have been an exploding gas tank alerted the sleeping family to the danger and all got out safely, even their two dogs. The only thing lost? Five high performance vehicles, Trans Ams and Camaros.
“He put a lot of work in them,” said Boyer. “Nice Camaros. Fairly high performance. And he had a '79 that he'd had for most of his life, been working on it for years.”
One of the Camaros the owner was saving for when his two-year-old son was older, so they could work on it together. It was lost along with the rest. But the family does have insurance.
“It'll all be replaced, nobody got hurt, so... I'm sure they'll start again,” said Fahrbach.
For now the family is staying with relatives. The house is currently uninhabitable. Both the powerlines and waterline were also damaged in the fire.
The only thing to be retrieved from the garage in a still usable condition? Car keys to a vehicle that was parked out front and the owner's wallet.
The fire remains under investigation. There’s no word yet on what may have caused it or how much it'll cost to rebuild.
Reporter VideoPilar Pedraza on Haysville garage fireClassic cars destroyed in Haysville garage fire
