'Electrical Mishap' Cause of Garage Fire

The fire which destroyed 2 cars and caused extensive smoke damage to the home of a former Greenwich selectman apparently started in a Mini Cooper car parked inside the garage.

According to Deputy Fire Marshal Rob Natale, he has determined the point of origin of the Feb. 12 fire which destroyed the Mini Cooper and a second vehicle as well as the contents of the garage, to be "an electrical mishap within the parked vehicle inside the garage."

It took nearly 30 Greenwich firefighters about a half-hour to bring the blaze under control at the 22 Alden Rd. home of former Selectman Lin Lavery and her husband Tracy. The couple and their dog Lily escaped without injury after the fire was discovered about 8:20 p.m., Feb. 12.

According to fire officials, the fire caused significant smoke damage to the 1929 Tudor. Natale said he could not place a dollar estimate on the damage. "You're looking at the whole garage, an extension to the house (it was a basement garage), and the cleanup, you're looking at a pretty good amount," Natale said.

"I have a point of origin for the fire. I don't know what happened," Natale said. "It will be up to the insurance investigators and the manufacturer to prove what happened."

However, Natale said that BMW — the manufacturer of the Lavery's 2009 Mini Cooper — "issued a recall on this car in January and were expected to begin notifying owners in February that water pumps would be replaced free of charge ... they just identified the problem."

According to CBS News, BMW has recalled of nearly 89,000 Mini and Mini Cooper cars in the United States and more than 235,000 worldwide. According to the report, a water pump that cools the turbocharger in some models has a circuit board that can malfunction and overheat.

"In an extreme case this overheating can lead to a smoldering of the water pump and eventually can create a vehicle fire," said BMW spokeswoman Nathalie Bauters, according to the report. Nearly a dozen 12 fires have been reported to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.

Natale said of the cause, "It's rare ... It's not your normal cause of a fire like we've had recently with ashes (improperly disposed) from the fireplace."

He said it was fortunate the Laverys were home when the fire broke out because they were able to discover it before it spread to their home which is equipped with smoke detectors. The garage wasn't equipped with detectors. "Normally you don't see smoke alarms in a garage because starting cars in there can trip the alarms," Natale explained.

Natale said town building inspectors allowed the Laverys to return to the home on Feb. 14.

In an interview on Feb. 13, Lin Lavery had nothing but praise for Greenwich professional and volunteer firefighters. "They were fabulous," she said of their efforts.