Fire destroyed a house and attached garage on Higgins Hill Road

ST. JOHNSBURY — Fire destroyed a house and attached garage on Higgins Hill Road on Friday, torching a 1968 Volkswagen Beetle in the process. When firefighters arrived at 68 Higgins Hill Road soon after the 9:29 a.m. emergency tone they found flames over-taking the garage and the owner of the car, Jeffrey Carrasco, trying to pull the car out of the garage with a chain attached to his truck. Carrasco was told to clear the area, and the car stayed in the garage to burn with the chain still attached to the nearby truck. The Carrascos said they have been in the process of trying to purchase the house, which is bank-owned due to foreclosure. On Friday morning, the Carrascos said they had gone to the property to clean up glass from windows that had been smashed. They found a fire burning a pile of trash in the front yard that flames had spread to the garage. Jeffrey Carrasco said he got a passerby to call 9-1-1 and he started working to get the car out of the garage. Carrie Carrasco said she went into the house to make sure no one was inside. Chief Brad Reed said the garbage items, which included a couch and mattresses, were the likely source of the fire, but the cause was undetermined.