Le Mars Daily Sentinel: Local News: Fire roasts unoccupied house (02/09/09)

Flames tore through the back porch of this rental home at 414 5th Ave. S.E. Sunday evening. No one was living in the home, owned by Chris DeRocher, according to Fire Chief Wayne Schipper. The fire was out in about two hours.
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Flames tore through part of an unoccupied one-story house Sunday.

Neighbors reported the blaze.

The Le Mars Fire Department arrived at the rental house owned by Chris DeRocher at 414 5th Ave. S.E. at about 8 p.m., according to Fire Chief Wayne Schipper.

"The back porch of the house was totally engulfed in flames," he said. "There was extensive damage -- fire, heat and smoke."

The fire crew stayed on the scene for about two hours.

"We wanted to make sure there were no rekindles. Within an hour we bean to assess what the cause was, what the origin was," Schipper said.

The cause is still under investigation.

The Le Mars Fire Department was assisted by the Le Mars Police and the State Fire Marshal, and the Merrill Fire Department was on standby during the blaze.

Could have been an electrical fire??

-- Posted by lemarsgal on Mon, Feb 9, 2009, at 2:51 PM

Thank God It was unoccupied. So many people have died in house fires...

-- Posted by MommyinIOWA on Mon, Feb 9, 2009, at 4:20 PM

thank goodness no one was living there. It is very odd no one was living there at the time, hopefully he was insured.

-- Posted by eyes wide open on Mon, Feb 9, 2009, at 5:24 PM

I saw this whole thing. I was very scared. People lived there just this summer and beginning of school year. Very thankful they were not there

-- Posted by LeMarsLady on Mon, Feb 9, 2009, at 6:30 PM

Arsonists don't take into consideration if it is occupied or not.

-- Posted by Michael Lamb on Tue, Feb 17, 2009, at 11:00 PM