AFFTON, Mo. — A south St. Louis County family lost their home to an early morning fire on Wednesday.
The family of five safely escaped the house fire in Affton, but now, they're left without a place to live.
Crews from Affton Fire Protection District were called out to the home on Staely Avenue around 2 a.m. on Wednesday.
Four different fire precincts ended up helping fight the fire, which started while two adults and three young children were inside the home.
Officials say it started in one of the children's bedrooms and spread, causing extensive damage to the second floor.
Nobody was injured in the fire.
"Upon arrival, the second engine company saw fire shooting out of the back of the house on the second floor. At that time, they made an aggressive interior attack and extinguished the fire," said Lt. Jason Brice, the Lemay Fire Protection District PIO.
At this time, the cause of the fire is still unknown.
Lt. Brice says there's one simple step people at home can take to prevent a house fire from happening: "This is a good time to check your smoke detectors, make sure they are functioning. In an incident like this, smoke detectors could easily save your life."
It was the second major fire in St. Louis County overnight. Twelve fire departments and 60 firefighters were on the scene of a fire Wednesday morning at a business in Valley Park.
Fire officials said the building was unoccupied when the fire broke out.
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