ST CHARLES, Mo. — A St. Charles family lost their home to a fire Sunday morning.
Central County Fire Rescue said the fire had almost consumed the entire house before they arrived. A neighbor had called 911 at about 10:45 Sunday morning saying their neighbor's house on Fort Sumter Way was engulfed in flames, Central County Fire Rescue Deputy Chief Jason Meinershagen said.
“Once we realized that the first floor was almost completely burned through and unsafe and unstable, we just pulled crews out and said we're going to have an exterior defensive fire operation,” Meinershagen said.
It was a somewhat difficult fire to fight, Meinershagen said. It took hours, lots of tools and several departments to put it out and get to hot spots.
“It was extremely hot right up in the front of the garage," he said. "It was so hot that it actually buckled and melted the asphalt, one of the hose lines that was relatively far from the actual flame and, just due to the heat, that radiant heat from the fire, actually burned through the hose line."
He said the family of five wasn’t home at the time, but he wants to remind other families during National Fire Prevention Week to have a plan.
“They didn't have to escape the flames," he said. "But as quickly as this fire spread and as rapidly as it was moving, waiting until the emergency to plan that escape and to have that escape plan and know your way out of the house is not the right answer. You want to be able to know a plan to have a plan to practice the plan especially if you've got young children."
Even though the cause of the fire was not yet known, Meinershagen said its important to not leave anything unattended in the kitchen and check on fire-prone areas of your home, like heaters.
“We recommend that you have it serviced at least once a year going into this fall time," he said. "As you're starting to get those turned on, it's a good time to get time to do that. Same for your fireplace, you want to make sure that you're cleaning the flue."
The cause of the fire remained under investigation as of Sunday night.
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