Fire destroys Cedar Bluffs home

About 40 firefighters from five volunteer departments fought into the evening Tuesday to extinguish a fire that destroyed a Cedar Bluffs home.

Firefighters from Cedar Bluffs, Fremont Rural, Wahoo, Colon and Prague fire departments continued to work at 6:45 p.m. to put out fire in the basement of the two story home at 307 W. Elm St.

Cedar Bluffs Fire Chief Rob Benke said preliminary reports are that the fire was electrical in nature. An investigator from the Nebraska Fire Marshal’s Office was on scene but was not expected to go into the home to determine a definite cause until today.

Benke said firefighters were called to the scene at about 1:45 p.m. on a call of fire on the roof. He was not first on scene, but said when he arrived there was fire on the roof and smoke coming out of the second floor.

“We believe we had fire go up through the walls and into the attic,” Benke said of the approximately 80-year-old updated home. “The homeowner was able to get out and one of the firefighters got the dog out.”

He said a female homeowner initially attempted to put the fire out herself.

“She thought it was a neighbor burning at first. She has a neighbor who burns a lot,” Benke said. “Then she saw fire actually going along the ceiling in one room. She tried to put it out with a fire extinguisher, but it was too late.”

Neighbors also saw the beginning of the fire.

“I smelled smoke and checked my house first,” said Gary Nice, who lives across the street. “I looked out the front door and saw it was coming out of the window across the street.”

It was not an easy fire to fight because of single digit weather and water problems.

“There was a mechanical problem with one of the fire hydrants. I’m not sure what it was yet,” Benke said. “Because of the cold, we had such a problem seeing. Water was turning to steam and you only see where you were aiming at from the aerial truck.”

He said the home is a complete loss. A determination on cause and a loss estimate was expected at the earliest later in the day today.

Executive editor Tracy Buffington contributed to this story.