Man dies after fire in Fostoria garage

FOSTORIA — A 75-year-old man died as a result of injuries sustained in a garage fire at a South Wood Street home on Thursday, the Fostoria Fire Division said in a news release issued Friday morning.The man, whose name had not been released by press time Friday, sustained "significant burns throughout his body — they said, roughly, 80 to 85% of his body," Fostoria Fire Chief Jason Root said Thursday at the scene.The news release said the fire division learned of the man's death from the state fire marshal's office at about 8:30 a.m., on Friday. Fire suppression was completed, the news release said, and the state fire marshal's office was contacted to investigate. The investigation was completed at 9 p.m., Thursday, the release said.The chief said Fostoria firefighters took the man from the scene to ProMedica Fostoria Community Hospital, from which he was flown to a Toledo hospital.The fire took place in a garage that is detached from the house and set back from the street. Root said a call to the fire division shortly after 4 p.m., reported an explosion in a garage with an individual inside. A two-member engine crew first arrived and off-duty crews were called to assist, Root said, with Fostoria police officers also helping at the scene."When they got on scene, they had heavy smoke showing with no visible fire, from what I was told," the chief said. "The individual had already gotten himself out of the garage. The garage is approximately 30 (feet) by 20, with a wing, too, off of it."Root said a woodburning device in the garage apparently played a role in the fire."Some of the preliminary information we got from the individual who got injured was he was trying to start the woodburner," he said. "... Nobody else was injured. The fire was extinguished fairly easily. The guys did a great job on that."Root said at the scene that he did not know if calling the incident "an explosion" would be accurate."Ordinarily, woodburners don't just blow up, so we don't want to say that," he said. "We know that we had an accelerated fire that did occur. So, until we know all those details, unless we were directly here, we don't know that. It could have been something in there that ignited that sent out a big fireball. Whether you call that an explosion is up to your interpretation, so we don't want to necessarily say 'an explosion.' The structure itself is fairly intact, so as far as an explosion occurring — there's no major damage, except from the fire itself."Root said people should be cautious as they seek heat with temperatures dropping."This kind of leads back into the whole thing of fire prevention and fire safety," he said. "We want to make sure that everybody's using good, proper techniques with heating sources. Whether you're using a legitimate woodburner or not, make sure you're using clean, dry, seasoned firewood. Do not use any accelerants or anything that could potentially cause this type of a situation. You can imagine if this was an attached garage, to a residence with multiple people. "There are some serious risks. In every kind of cold-weather change and stuff like that, we have these. So, we want to make sure that everybody just kind of uses the common-sense thing. With the information that's out there nowadays, there's really no excuse. But we do understand that human error can be a significant player in this whole thing. So, everybody, be safe."