Burn victim out of hospital, but blaze claimed cats

Fire appears to have started in the garage and spread to the rest of the house. (Lebanon Voice/Harrison Thorp)

ROCHESTER - A witness to Tuesday's fire on Shaw Drive said she heard a huge explosion moments before looking out her front window to see the home's double-bay garage doors partially blown out and flames licking up the exterior walls.

Jody Keravich, 57, was alone at his home at 35 Shaw Drive at the time and after the explosion, "he was running around outside frantically," said Anita Biehner, a neighbor, on Wednesday.

She said she watched as he tried to use a code pad to open the garage doors which appeared stuck, because "there may have been a dog in there" and then moved his boat away from the house to protect it from the flames and smoke.

Biehner said she ran out to help a distraught Keravich and noticed his face was totally black from the burns.

Keravich was airlifted to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and admitted to intensive care. He has since been released, a hospital spokesman said today.

All four dogs that belong to the Keravich family escaped the fast-moving blaze, but two cats didn't make it out, according to two of Keravich's sons-in-law who stood on Wednesday near the charred rubble that was left of their father-in-law's home.

The two-alarm fire broke out around 10 a.m. and was initially reported as 35 Sheridan Road.

Firefighters had to call for tankers when no fire hydrant could be located except for one a half mile from the scene.

Biehner said Keravich often tinkered with machinery and often welded.

Fire officials are investigating but no cause of the fire has been released.

The sons-in-law said Keravich, who lived in the house with his wife, had found alternative housing.