Warm wake up
<p>Bryan Enos, co-owner ofÊSERVPRO of Coeur d'Alene, places a sheet of plywood over a garage doorway Friday at a home in the 100-block of Vista Way in Coeur d'Alene where the garage was destroyed by fire. A Coeur d'Alene Police officer kicked in the front door of the home to evacuate residents sleeping inside.Ê</p>
<p>Coeur d'Alene police officer Gus Wessel.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - At first, Rob Barnes thought the house was being robbed.
Turns out it wasn't. Its attached garage was on fire though, and the stranger in the Barnes' Vista Avenue home around 4:30 a.m. Friday was Coeur d'Alene police officer Gus Wessel, having just kicked down the front door.
"I was scared at first," said Rob, 19, of waking up to the officer yelling to get out of the house. "But when I heard 'police' I was fine."
Wessel, according to police reports, responded to the garage fire before the fire department or all four Barneses and the family golden retriever Joey had woke to realize what was going on.
Wessel tried the door, which was locked, banged on it, but no one answered.
Then he kicked it in and alerted the family, sleeping downstairs.
"It was weird," said 14-year-old Tom Barnes on waking up to an officer saying, "hurry up, let's go." "At first I didn't know what was going on."
Tom, Rob, Mike, 16, and their mother, Mitzi, and the pooch walked out the front door to a neighbor's in the 100 block of the street.
Wessel, a three-year veteran of the force, went back in the house, Rob said, and found the keys to the family's Ford 4x4 truck, parked just outside the garage, and moved it.
The Coeur d'Alene Fire Department arrived after Wessel cleared the home. It took crews a couple of hours to extinguish the blaze that eventually destroyed the garage, as well as the 2004 Toyota Camry parked inside.
"I'm thankful he was concerned for our safety," Mitzi said of Wessel. "I'm just happy we're all OK."
Mitzi admitted she'll miss that car, but counted her blessings.
The fire department couldn't determine the cause for the blaze, but said the flames were close to catching the home on fire, said Glenn Lauper, deputy fire chief.
Wessel, who couldn't be reached for comment Friday afternoon, has been with the Coeur d'Alene Police Department for three years full time in patrol. He also worked previously as a bike patrol officer assigned to the downtown summer program.
Sgt. Brett Walton said Wessel was the type of guy who would duck the attention anyway.
"He did a great job," Walton said. "It's a testament to the type of officer he is."