Delivery man saves GR home

What can Brown do for you?

For two Green River residents, they can say a member of the united problem solvers helped save their house.

A UPS delivery man’s quick thinking and action are credited in extinguishing a lightning-caused roof fire Monday night. The fire occurred after 7 p.m. when a bolt of lightning struck the peak of the roof at 1725 New Mexico. Mindy Larson, the resident, said she was in the kitchen opening the microwave door when the bolt stuck, momentarily giving a bright illumination to the room. At that moment, she also heard what sounded like an explosion.

Larson, her husband Dan and her sister immediately walked outside to see if the bolt struck their house. Seeing nothing alarming, they walked back inside and started checking to see which electronic devices were shorted out. Shortly after returning inside, their doorbell rang. John Stangl, a UPS employee from Rock Springs, was there to drop off some fabric Larson ordered online.

“All their electronics were fried,” Stragl said.

Stangl stepped back after speaking with the Larsons and noticed smoke coming from the top of the house. As Stangl asks if the Larsons had an appliance upstairs, a neighbor from across the street alerts the four to flames raising from a hole in the roof.

Stangl then called 911 and asked Dan if they had a ladder and fire extinguisher they could use to fight the fire. Initially, Stangl thought the entire attic was on fire and ready to burn the entire house.

Locating an extinguisher, but no ladder, Stangl climbed onto the Larsons’ camper and made his way to the roof.

He then started fighting the fire.

“The fire extinguisher was old, it didn’t last long,” Stangl said.

After Stangl emptied the extinguisher, Dan threw his garden hose up to Stangl. The hose would ultimately kill the flames coming from the 12-inch hole.

Arriving shortly after the flames were killed, the Green River Fire Department started to overhaul the scene to ensure the fire wouldn’t spring back to life.

“(Stangl) was still up there when we got there,” Assistant Fire Chief Mike Liberty said. “He did do a heck of a deed for those folks.”

Firefighters pulled away the smoldering shingles and the Larsons’ neighbors helped patch their roof.

Mindy said the experience showed her true community togetherness and praised the fire department for their quick reaction time.

Stangl said the event was unlike anything he had experienced at work.

“That was the end of my night,” he said. “It was pretty crazy.”