An overloaded electrical outlet is believed to be the cause of a Winfield fire that gutted a garage and destroyed an RV camper Monday, fire marshal Alan Stoll said Tuesday.
The fire at 610 E. Third did more than $30,000 in damage but the building and its contents were not insured for that much.
Stoll said the point of origin for the fire was in the southeast corner of the garage where several items ? including the RV, which was stored under an adjoining pole barn ? were plugged in. Home owner Lowell Shrubshall told investigators he was working inside the garage when he heard a noise and discovered the fire.
Shrubshall escaped the burning structure unharmed but was evaluated at the hospital as a precaution and later released.
A two-story apartment nearby suffered some heat damage but is mostly OK. The fire burned quickly and several explosions were heard because a number of propane tanks, acetylene tanks and paint cans were inside the garage to fuel the blaze.
Stoll praised firefighters who were able to salvage a small structure near the fire that housed a 1951 Ford truck that Shrubshall is restoring.
