Blaze destroys house near Cape

A house near Cape Girardeau was destroyed by fire late Friday night.

Firefighters responded to the home of Larraine and Brad Brown at 209 Hillvale Drive at about 9:30 p.m., shortly after Larraine Brown returned home and found smoke billowing from the roof of her single-story home.

She then found her husband working in the garage and shouted to him that their house was on fire.

Brad Brown said he regularly works in the garage with his Yorkshire terrier, Molly. He said he hadn't noticed the smoke before his wife's return.

He said he didn't have near enough insurance to cover what he had in the house.

"What the hell am I going to do?" he said.

Firefighters from the Millersville and Gordonville fire departments battled the blaze, collecting water from hydrants at Notre Dame Regional High School, then carrying water in tanker trucks to the supply pumper trucks at the scene.

Neighbor Chris VanPelt said he saw the smoke from his home on Alpine Avenue, told his girlfriend to call 911 and ran to the Browns' home. He said he tried to hook up a garden hose to fight the fire, but quickly realized that was a futile effort.

Though the home is not a large one, Brad Brown said he loved it.

"I wouldn't take a million dollars for it," he said.

January would have marked the couple's sixth year in the home.

The fire blew out all the windows in the house, and the interior of the home was charred from one end to the other.

Gordonville fire chief Mark Koerber said when the fire department arrived, the home was fully involved and the fire had spread through the attic area and from there throughout the house.

"It was a good fight in that it did not collapse and did not spread to other homes," Koerber said.

At 11 p.m., firefighters were dousing hot spots and preparing to investigate the cause of the fire Koerber said. Firefighters were unsure where the fire started.

The Whitewater fire district assisted.

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126