ALTON – Fire destroyed a storage shed Sunday morning and spread to a garage nearby while the intense heat burned the siding off a trailer home 20 feet away before firefighters extinguished the flames.

When firefighters arrived at the home on Route 116, the South Gate Road, about 3 miles from Old Town, they found the first garage in rubble, including lawn tractors and other equipment that had been stored inside, said Alton Fire Chief Dave Webb.

The fire is believed to have started when sparks from the chimney of a wood stove spread to the eaves and roof of the storage shed. It quickly spread to the back wall of the garage, although Alton firefighters, with assistance from LaGrange and Hudson, contained it to that wall.

Webb said, however, that a truck inside the garage was damaged from the intense heat as was the siding on the nearby home.