Family flees as morning fire leaves home ruined

A Cape Girardeau family will continue sorting through their belongings today, trying to salvage what they can after a fire at 421 S. Benton St. left them homeless early Saturday morning.

The Cape Girardeau Fire Department is still investigating the cause, but the blaze appears to be electrical in origin, assistant fire chief Mark Hasheider said.

Denise Williams said she went through her regular routine before bed Friday night, checking to make sure her children were asleep, the doors were locked and everything was turned off.

But her 12-year-old daughter woke up to popping noises about 1:30 a.m. Saturday and roused her mother by screaming that the house was on fire. Williams saw flames licking up the living room wall where a cordless phone was plugged into an electrical outlet.

She pushed her children out the front door and pitched Beamer, their pug dog, out the back. She threw whatever blankets she could grab on the fire, thinking that would smother it. It didn't work.

Next, Williams began dousing the fire with a toy bathtub bucket. She even snatched up her German shepherd's wet blanket near the back door and tossed that on top of the fire.

"I thought I had it under control, but then it was like it exploded," Williams said. "As soon as the couch caught on fire, that's when everything went crazy."

When she heard a window burst, she knew she had to get out.

Williams' boyfriend, Sonny Kuehn, who also lives in the Benton Street home, was working the night shift at Elfrink Transportation when the fire started. All three children living there made it out safely: Alexis Williams, 12, Samantha Kuehn, 10, and Skylar Kuehn, 6.

Sassy, a cat, and Sarge, a German shepherd, also survived the fire, but Beamer did not because he went back inside.

After waking her mother, Alexis said she tried to use the phone in her room to dial 911, but there was no dial tone. She ran across the street to the home of Sonny Kuehn's mother, Mari LeClere. LeClere called for help.

When firefighters arrived, half of the first floor was engulfed, and flames were shooting out of a living-room window, Hasheider said. The fire department's investigation will be finalized this week, he said.

The home had smoke alarms, but the batteries were dead, Williams said.

"I actually just thought about changing the batteries the other day," she said. "My message to people is, 'Change your batteries!'"

Everything in the home's six downstairs rooms, which included the girls' bedroom, a master bedroom, kitchen, sun room and bathroom, was burned up, melted or blackened. The basement was flooded. Williams is unsure how much insurance would cover.

"I don't even know where I am going to sleep tonight," she said.

Williams burned her hands and toes trying to put out the fire, though she didn't realize it until a firefighter pointed it out to her. Her bandaged hands and feet will keep her from returning to her job at Kentucky Fried Chicken on Monday.

The Benton Street home had special meaning for Williams, who stayed there with her grandmother as a child while her parents worked.

"I grew up in that house," Williams said. "I always felt safe in that house."

Williams moved into the home in 1988. She had the house rewired during the early 1990s and again within the past two years.

"I was supposed to pass on my grandma's antique buffet and china cabinet, but I guess I won't be doing that now."

jgosche@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 133