BUCHANAN TOWNSHIP — Area fire departments battled a fire for several hours Monday that destroyed one couple’s home and garage. There were no injuries.

Pamela and Donald Ackerman of 15982 Brookside Drive, near Niles-Buchanan Road, watched as their home of 23 years burned to the ground. Pamela recalled when they bought their house in 1987.

“It was just a tiny little house,” she said, at 691 square feet. Since then, they added on about four times and included a 2.5-car garage, full-size indoor swimming pool and basketball court.

“We were trying to sell things, little by little,” Pamela said.

They have one son, who lives in San Francisco, and one 12-year-old cat, which Pam was unable to locate Monday.

“We have a cat that’s probably dead in there,” she said.

Pamela, 60, said Monday she believes the fire was started in the garage by a lit cigarette.

Donald, 56, had went in the garage that morning to smoke, and then left the garage to fix a pitchfork he had borrowed from a neighbor.

“The next thing he knew, he turned around and there were flames,” Pamela said. “I know there was an air compressor and a generator and gas cans.”

Donald went into the house to get a fire extinguisher. When he went to put out the fire there was an explosion. The dispatch center received the call at 10:06 a.m.

One car was salvaged from the property, but everything else was a lost.

“This has never happened to me before,” Pamela said. “Other people … but I never thought I would see the day ours would burn. It’s shocking.”

Donald is on disability; Pamela is unemployed.

“We’ll probably have to move in with his (Donald’s) 89-year-old mother in Bridgman,” Pamela said.

Deputy Jamie Laughlin of the Berrien County Sheriff’s Department said no other buildings in the neighborhood were affected by the fire, which billowed smoke that could be seen for miles. Foul play is not suspected at this time.

A team from the sheriff’s department will investigate the fire this week. The detective’s bureau and Buchanan Township Fire Department will also assist in the investigation, Laughlin said.

The City of Buchanan Fire Department, City of Buchanan Police Department, City of Niles Fire Department, Niles Township Fire Department, Berrien Springs Oronoko Fire Department and Bertrand Township Fire Department also responded to the scene.