BLISSFIELD TWP., Mich. (WWJ) - Firefighters in Blissfield Township, in southern Lenawee County, were awakened Saturday to a fire within their own department house.

The call came in shortly after 6:30 a.m. from a passerby who saw smoke coming from the firehouse, on East Adrian Street. The building was unoccupied at the time, as the department is staffed with volunteers.

"There was smoke inside the building and within a few minutes, it started coming out the roof and the garage doors," Police Chief Dale Greenleaf told WWJ's Jon Hewett. "Within another few minutes we did hear tires popping and it was evident that there was a fire in progress."

Greenleaf said a number of firefighters acted "heroically" and went into the burning building without gear in attempt to get equipment needed to extinguish the fire. Mike Gunter, who doubles as a village council member and volunteer firefighter, was among those who responded to the blaze.

"We opened up the walkthrough door just trying to grab some of the gear that we could, because that's the first thing in the door, but the smoke was ungodly. You could tell something was burning because it was so hot in there," Gunter said, speaking from a hospital bed. "It appeared one of the ambulances was on fire inside of the truck bay."

Gunter and another first responder suffered smoke inhalation and were taken to the hospital for treatment. Another first responders suffered burns to his arm and was taken to the hospital.

Two ambulances were destroyed in the fire, which spread to the building's roof. The station suffered smoke and structural damage and firefighters lost a deal of equipment, but Greenleaf said things could have been much worse had neighboring departments not responded to help.

"As soon as we saw that there was a fire inside the fire department, we knew they were going to need assistance. So, the call went out immediately to all Lenawee County fire agencies and they responded," he said.

A cause of the fire remains under investigation.