The house is a total loss, but no one was injured. Moran credits the smoke detectors with saving the lives of himself and his sister, the two occupants of the residence that stood near the Vagabond Resort on the Stonington Peninsula.

As firefighters from multiple agencies continued to hose down the smoldering remains of his home, Moran explained what happened to neighbors and the Press.

Early in the morning, the homeowner was awake but not quite ready to get up when he heard an alarm go off, he said.

“That’s the only reason I got up, because I didn’t smell any smoke in my room until I opened the door,” Moran shared. He walked through the house, found smoke hovering in some of the rooms, and realized it was coming from the garage. Considering it might have been a small garbage fire, he opened the door to the garage, thinking he’d look inside.

The proximity of the Vagabond Resort's boat launch to a structure fire proved useful Monday morning. (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press)

“I opened that door, and just smoke hit me, and then I turned around. I was like, ‘this isn’t a little garbage fire,'” Moran said. He yelled towards his sister’s bedroom for her to get up, grab her phone and evacuate. “I waited for her, and we both ran out the side door.”

With her cell phone, they called 911; Moran didn’t attempt go back to his bedroom to find his phone.

Ensign Township Fire Chief Alan Novak estimated that he was paged around 6:30 a.m. along with the volunteer fire departments of Masonville Township and Nahma Township.

“We responded along with Masonville and Nahma, then once we were in route, we heard it had went from ‘full of smoke’ to a ‘house engulfed,’ and we got Brampton coming,” Novak said. “We set up and started fighting fire, and then we requested manpower from Gladstone volunteers and Escanaba Township volunteers.”

Early arrivers were DTE Energy and Alger Delta Cooperative Electric Association, who Novak said “promptly” cut off the gas and electricity while the place was burning.

Firefighters train hoses on a smoking house on the Stonington Peninsula yesterday morning. (Photo courtesy of Yvonne Pittman)

The dispatch operator had asked the callers asked for their gas and electric suppliers: “When we called 911, that was one of the first things — they were actually really good about it,” Moran said.

Yvonne Pittman, co-owner of the neighboring Vagabond Resort, expressed that she was impressed with the response time from the firefighters. She was on the scene in part to make sure people camping nearby were out of the danger zone.

Though the property that burned is next to the boat launch at the Vagabond and is accessed via an easement at the resort, Moran’s home was not exactly lakefront. However, with the water just a couple hundred yards away, firefighters set up hoses and filled their portable tank with lake water to douse the fire.

“We were able to pump out of the lake and pump right up to the engine, so it eliminated a tanker shuttle, so that was pretty nice,” Novak said. “We filled with tankers at first till Masonville got their volume pump set up, and then they pumped up into the tank.”

The house — a single-story building with cathedral ceilings and a basement as well as attached garage — was the only structure affected, but it was completely destroyed.

A burnt vehicle is visible surrounded by rubble left from a fire that destroyed a residence in Ensign Township.

Though it seems pretty clear that there fire started in the garage, wherein Moran’s car was reduced to a blackened shell, exactly where or how it initiated is yet unknown.

Though Moran and his sister lost much of their belongings, the Iraq veteran was optimistic that he’d be able to rescue his war medals. Unfortunately, old family photographs were almost certainly destroyed.

Since the house, which he purchased in January, was his very first, he had wanted to cover his bases and was heavily insured. He may rebuild, but it’s too soon to say. Pittman offered an open cabin at the Vagabond free of charge.

Novak said that while it took about an hour to knock down the flames, responders were on scene until a little after 10 a.m. finishing dousing the site and then cleaning up.

“Put a little safety briefing in there,” Moran called to the Daily Press reporter preparing to leave the scene. “Fire alarms work.”

A fire truck from Ensign is posted at the portable tank being filled with lake water on Monday morning. (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press)

After knocking down the fire, responders continue to check for hot spots. (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press)

The south side of a house ruined by fire -- the opposite side from the source -- is seen after the blaze was extinguished. (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press)

What had been a residence is seen after firefighters from six departments extinguished a blaze yesterday. (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press)

Firefighters called the house a complete loss. It's probably safe to say the car that had been parked in the garage is totaled, too. (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press)