Members of the Superior Volunteer Fire Department responded to a fire around 2:30 Sunday morning on East Third Street that took the life of one Superior resident and destroyed the garage.
Investigators have not yet submitted their reports related to a fire in the predawn hours that claimed the life of a former Express employee, Tonya Anson Pohlman, 53.
A next door neighbor, Matt Thompson, turned in the alarm a few minutes before 2:30 Sunday morning. When members of the Superior Volunteer Fire Department arrived at 526 East Third, the location of the fire, flames were shooting through the garage roof.
While a free-standing structure, the garage was located next to the Pohlman home and only a few feet from the home of Betty Butler. Firemen were able to mostly contain the fire to the garage though some damage was done to nearby structures.
The garage and all contents were lost. Like many garages, it was being used to store things other than an automobile.
The deceased's body was found in the northwest portion of the garage. Why she was in the garage after 2 a.m. has not been determined.
Alerted to the fire, her husband, Martin Pohlman, and Adam Baker, a Nuckolls County deputy sheriff, were trying to slow the flames with a garden hose and fire extinquisher before firemen arrived.
Because of the seriousness of the fire, members of the fire department were summoned by both pagers and the sounding of the civil defense sirens.
The sirens woke up people throughout the town. Though not sounding the tornado alert, several people suspected the sirens were warning of an approaching storm and went outside to check the weather.
The National Weather Service forecast earlier had included the possibility of a thunderstorm. To compound the problem, the weather radio transmitter located north of Superior was not functioning. Many area residents have come to rely on that service for weather alerts. However a telecommunications problem has put several transmitters, including the one at Superior, out of service. As of Monday, the weather service had not published a date when the transmitter would be back in service.
The deceased's body was taken to Omaha for an autopsy. Foul play is not suspected.
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