A firefighter shoots water on the back of a detached garage that caught fire about 6:30 a.m. Wednesday at a home on Sunny Crest Lane in Middlesex Township. The garage, which is next door to the fire station, sustained minimal damage. No one was injured. Tommy Gozion, the homeowner and local doughnut maker, closed his shop and went home to fight the fire with a garden hose before firefighters arrived.photography by jim smith/butler eagle

MIDDLESEX TWP — Tommy Gozion was up early, as usual, at work making doughnuts Wednesday morning. Then the owner of Valencia Donut Co. on Route 8 in Middlesex Township got an unexpected call about 6:30 a.m.

“It was my neighbor,” Gozion said. “He says, 'There's a big fire coming from back of your garage.'”

Gozion put his doughnuts on hold, locked the doors of his shop and ran a minute and a half to his home on Sunny Crest Lane.

He saw flames in back of his detached garage. Inside were tools, an old skid loader and his son's Subaru Legacy.

Gozion grabbed a garden hose and made like a firefighter — hitting the flames with as much water as the hose could offer.

“I was spraying and praying,” he said.

And all that spraying — and maybe praying — did some good.

“I knocked it down enough,” Gozion said, “but it got into the walls. I couldn't get the fire out of the walls.”

Fortunately, Gozion lives next door to the Middlesex Township fire station, and a fire crew arrived within minutes.

“We started the fire attack and had it under control in about 20 minutes,” said Tim Tabisz, assistant chief for the Middlesex Township Volunteer Fire Company.

Firefighters also offered Gozion a hand and helped push his son's car out of the fire's way. The vehicle was undamaged by the flames.“I'm glad about that,” he said. “That's a good car.”Tabisz gave credit to Gozion's quick action with the garden hose in keeping the fire from getting out of hand.“The homeowner did the majority of the work,” Tabisz said.The garage itself sustained minimal damage. Tabisz said the fire is being ruled accidental, but did know what caused it.“I don't have a clue either,” Gozion said. “There's no electricity out the back of that building.”Assisting the Middlesex Township VFC were firefighters from the Adams Area Fire District and Richland Township in Allegheny County.Afterward, once the last fire truck drove away, Gozion didn't have much time to assess the situation at home.“I got to go back to work,” he said, “and see how the doughnuts are doing.”

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Firefighters clean up hot spots on the back of a detached garage that caught fire about 6:30 a.m. Wednesday at a home on Sunny Crest Lane in Middlesex Township. The garage, which is next door to the fire station, sustained minimal damage and no one was injured. Tommy Gozion, the homeowner and doughnut maker, closed his shop and went home to fight the fire with a garden hose before the firefighters arrived.jim smith/butler eagle

Tommy Gozion stands next to his classic Mercedes Benz TD300 that was spared damage about 6:30 a.m. Wednesday when fire broke out in back of a detached garage at his home on Sunny Crest Lane in Middlesex Township. A Subaru inside the garage also was spared damage when firefighters helped Gozion push the car to safety. The cause of the fire is unknown, but it is being ruled accidental.