A woman died in a house fire in Atlantic Saturday afternoon.
Atlantic Fire Chief Tom Cappel said- the woman was a resident in the home and the house is a total loss. A cause had not been determined.
First responders observed heavy smoke coming from the house when they arrived about 4:30 p.m. Saturday. “We had flames coming out the north side, the south side and the east side of the structure,” Cappel said. “We did try to get in the front door. There was a lot of smoke. It was very black in there, couldn’t see a whole lot.”
The fire chief said getting into the second floor was a challenge. “Somebody had done some renovating. They put a wall in between the north and south bedroom upstairs and the fire got in that wall and that’s what took us so long because we couldn’t get to it,” Cappel said. “The stairs going upstairs were compromised.”
The main floor ceiling was also damaged by the fire and that affected the bedroom floors above.
Fire departments from Lewis and Marne helped fight the fire and there was a brief rain shower around 4:45 in Atlantic that helped tamp down the flames, too.
(By Ric Hanson, KJAN, Atlantic)