An overloaded extension cord caused the fire Tuesday that damaged a 93-year-old home on Curry Street and destroyed a barn and trailer, an official said.
Carson City Fire Chief Stacey Giomi said Wednesday that fire investigators determined an extension cord powering a travel trailer used as a room was the wrong gauge. Additionally, a sheet of plywood placed over the cord and walked on daily caused the cord to weaken.
"The wiring in the trailer was a larger gauge than the wire in the extension cord," said Giomi. "I'm sure the two things combined - the extra current being pulled through the wire and it being under plywood - caused that wire to heat the plywood and it eventually shorted out."
Fire crews were called out to the 493-square-foot home Tuesday afternoon after passerby Denise Repp spotted smoke coming from behind the home. By the time Repp notified the tenant in the house and her daughter asleep in the trailer, the flames were two stories high, engulfing the barn, trailer and 25-percent of the house.
Battalion Chief Eric Bero said the fire also burned through lines to the gas meter, causing natural gas to feed the flames.
A firefighter working the blaze who suffered heat exhaustion was treated and released from the hospital Tuesday night, said Giomi.