The Manlius Fire Department has concluded an early morning house fire they responded to on Trout Lily Lane in the town of Manlius was caused due to an electrical short that started outside the garage of the house.

Manlius Fire Chief John Buskey said Manlius crews responded to an emergency call around 4:10 a.m. on Wednesday, March 25.

Crews ran into problems when the fire hydrant would not work because of frozen water conditions inside the hydrant.

“The hydrant was properly maintained and cleared of snow like we ask citizens to do,” Buskey said, “It was a problem with the water being frozen, not a valve problem.”

Lack of water to extinguish the fire led to Manlius crews calling other departments in the area to proceed with a tankard operation, Buskey said, and 11 tankards showed up to the scene. Buskey said 14 departments total showed up to assist.

The fire was controlled after about 90 minutes, said Buskey, but the damage of the fire had spread throughout the attic of the entire house.

“There’s no doubt that if the hydrant was working for us, we would have controlled the fire sooner and there probably would have been less damage,” Buskey said. ‘We would have had a more direct attack.”

Dianne Koolakian, homeowner of the house, said she was woken up around 3:40 a.m. by her 13-year-old son, who said he smelled smoke. She said her and her family quickly evacuated the house and called 911.

Fortunately, Koolakian, her husband and her son all made it out safe, but Koolakian said the animals of the house, including a dog, cat, bird, snake and crabs, were not able to make it out.

“We’ve had a lot people helping us out,” Koolakian said. “We’ve had many people offer us provisions, clothes, food, a place to stay. We’ll figure it out.”

Buskey said fire investigators determined the cause of the fire was an accidental electrical short outside of the garage that was not due to any misuse of the outlet by the family.

Hayleigh Gowans is a reporter for the Eagle Bulletin. She can be reached at [email protected].