Veteran Berlin Raceway driver's wife badly burned escaping intense Algoma Township house fire

By Garret Ellison | gellison@mlive.comThe Grand Rapids Press
on December 16, 2012 at 12:45 PM, updated December 16, 2012 at 1:25 PM

 

Enlarge Garret Ellison | gellison@mlive.comAn attached garage was partially saved by Algoma Township firefighters on Sunday, Dec. 16, after an early morning house fire destroyed most of the home of Tim and Pat DeVos, 915 10 Mile Road NE.Algoma Township house fire Dec. 16, 2012 gallery (5 photos)

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ALGOMA TOWNSHIP, MI — A veteran race car driver and his wife escaped a devastating house fire early Sunday morning, Dec. 16, after being woken up by their barking dog.
Tim DeVos said his wife, Pat, was hospitalized for severe burns and smoke inhalation after the couple woke up to find their home, at 915 10 Mile Road NE in Algoma Township, on fire before 4 a.m.
Pat DeVos is expected to recover. She has burns to her hands, face and legs after trying to put the fire out, family reported. DeVos said the blaze may have started in the kitchen.
The home is insured. The family built the home in the mid-1990s.
Firefighters from multiple fire departments in northern Kent County spent hours battling the blaze, which they found had fully engulfed the two-story home when they arrived.
Algoma Deputy Chief Mike Falk said, at DeVos’ request, fire crews tried to concentrate on saving an attached garage that contained several vehicles, heavy equipment and business papers.
“We tried to stop it there,” said Falk, motioning back to the residential area of the home, where the two stories had collapsed into the basement in a heap of charred wood and ash. Little of the structure remained aside from part of a brick chimney.
“This was pretty much gone already.”
Falk said the attack on the fire was slowed because the chimney collapsed on the home’s natural gas line, and crews had to wait for the utility service to arrive, dig up the line and cut it.

Tim DeVos

Due to the intensity of the blaze, firefighters attacked the fire defensively from the outside. They were still on scene mid-day Sunday hosing down hot spots.
DeVos said only he and his wife were home at the time of the fire. Their dog was able to escape as well. DeVos is a veteran Late Model driver at the Berlin Raceway in Marne. He won the Super Stocks title in 1995 and followed that up with Late Models titles in 2003 and 2005.
The Berlin Raceway Facebook page posted a note asking for prayers for the couple.
DeVos said they are related, but not closely, to the Amway Corp. DeVos family.