Tuesday fire damages family's home

An early morning fire Tuesday came close to completely destroying a family's home when an outside fire began to make its way into the house.

Roger Cantu, his wife, Michelle Seifert, and their children, Jasmine, 6, and Blake, 4, were sleeping when Seifert said she woke up at the same time some passersby began knocking at walls and windows to alert them of smoke coming from the rear of the home. The family escaped with no injuries.

Seifert said the fire happened in the corner of the kitchen -- the exact location of the family's only exit.

"We had to run the kids through the fire and smoke," she said. "It was pretty traumatizing."

"As soon as we opened that door, the flames went up," Cantu said.

Firefighters responded to the home in the 2900 block of Central Ave at 1:15 a.m. and had the fire controlled within an hour. Cantu said they had taken a hot log out of a smoker and placed it on top of a wall-mounted swamp cooler. He said they sat outside for an hour or two before going to bed, certain the log had cooled.

"About three or four hours later, it started back up," he said.

The home's roof and some exterior walls were destroyed, including the entire kitchen, and there is significant smoke and fire damage to the attic, he said. The rest of the home and the family's belongings appear to have a substantial amount of smoke damage. The home was not insured.

A report from the Caon City Area Fire Protection District states it appears that the wind rekindled the log and sparks blew into the woodpile below and started the fire. The report also says a smoke detector in the home did not have a battery and the house has no utility hook-ups, instead a 12-volt battery is used to power lights.

Cantu said he had been in the process of remodeling the home, but now he has some significant repairs that need to be done, including rebuilding the roof and some exterior walls before the weather turns cool again. He is unemployed, and Seifert is a full-time student.

Read the rest here:
Tuesday fire damages family's home