Recent fires in Pocatello, Idaho Falls and Caribou County damaged three buildings, threatened some power structures and burned a lot of brush.

    No people were injured in any of the incidents.

    The Pocatello Fire Department responded to a garage fire, located on West Lovejoy Street behind a South Main Street residence near Old Town, just before 1 p.m. on Monday.

    It took firefighters about 15 minutes to knock down the flames. They got onto the one-story garage’s roof using ladders and ventilated the structure by penetrating the roof. On the ground below they hit the flames with water from fire hoses and kept the blaze from spreading to any adjacent structures in the heavily residential neighborhood.

    The block of West Lovejoy Street between South Main and Arthur Avenue was immediately closed to traffic when firefighters arrived.

    The fire initially created a great deal of smoke that caused several residents to dial 911.

    Fire officials are still investigating the cause of the fire, but the first firefighters to arrive reported that the blaze seemed to originate in a large barrel in the garage.     It appeared that about two-thirds of the multi-stall garage suffered fire damage and fire officials were unsure if the structure would be salvageable.

    The Idaho Falls Fire Department also responded to two fires recently. The first occurred shortly before 8 a.m. on Sunday, at a warehouse located at 244 Short Street.

    The fire started in the basement of the large warehouse, according to a news release, which adds that the cause is still under investigation.

    Smoke was already visible from the front door and windows when firefighters arrived on scene, and they subsequently opened multiple garage doors to ventilate the area, according to a news release. They located the fire in the basement of the building.

    “Several holes were cut in the floor to extinguish the fire so crews could make access to the basement,” according to the news release, which adds that firefighters were able to keep the fire contained to that area.

    The second fire occurred in a garage located at 4295 Greenwillow Lane shortly after 5 p.m. on Monday.

    Firefighters could see flames in the garage when they arrived on scene, and as one crew worked to put that fire out, a second crew searched the house with a backup hose line, according to a news release.

    Firefighters were able to keep the fire from spreading beyond the garage, according to the news release, which adds that the cause of the fire is still under investigation.

    The warehouse and the garage fire each caused an estimated $50,000 in damages, fire department officials said.

    The Caribou County Fire Department responded to a brush fire early Monday morning.

    Fire Chief Dennis Godfrey said that fire appears to have been started by a pelican that flew into a power line around 3:30 a.m. He believes the line snapped and subsequently started the fire, roughly six miles north of Soda Springs, near Monsanto’s new mine.

    Godfrey said they had to wait for Rocky Mountain Power to cut the electricity before they could start fighting the fire, which consumed a little over three acres of brush. Firefighters with the Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service assisted, he said, adding that they had the fire under control by early afternoon. They were expected to remain on scene monitoring hot spots Monday night.

    Jeff Hymas, spokesman for Rocky Mountain Power, said the fire threatened two transmission structures in the area, but firefighters were able to save them.

    There were 143 customers without power until 5:30 p.m. — about 14 hours, Hymas said, adding that crews had to wait for firefighters to finish their work before they could get into the area, and they also had to get permission to build a temporary crossing over the railroad tracks in order to make necessary repairs.

    Hymas said they did find a deceased pelican in the area, but will do some additional investigation to determine if the bird actually came into contact with the power line.

    The Pocatello Valley Fire Department also responded to two small fires on Sunday night, in an area between the fire department, located on Ferguson, and the Blackrock Crossing, said Fire Chief Karen Aguilar.

    Both fires started near the railroad tracks, a short distance apart, so Aguilar said they may have been caused by a train coming through the area, but she’s not certain.

    Aguilar said the fires burned less than one-tenth of an acre combined, and didn’t cause any damage.

    Firefighters were able to get the fires under control within about 45 minutes.