Fire destroys historic home in New Madrid

By Mike McCoy Statesman Staff Writer

A historic New Madrid home was destroyed by fire Wednesday morning, but inhabitants escaped and no one was injured. Fire departments from Lilbourn, Catron, Portageville and Sikeston responded to the call which came in at 6:30 a.m.

The fire was discovered by Rosalie Sweatt who with her husband, Danny, had lived at the home on Scott Street for five years. Rosalie Sweatt said she was sleeping when the fire alarm awoke her. She looked for the source of the alarm and found fire shooting up through the kitchen range hood. According to family members, Sweatt attempted to put out the fire by "throwing flour on it." She was not successful and grabbed her grandchildren and escaped from the house, family members said. Sweatt then called her husband who was at work.

Fire department officials said once the fire got into the attic of the two-story home, it began to spread at a rapid rate. The historic home had many false walls which reportedly caused firefighters an unusual set of problems. The house was gutted by the time firefighters were able to bring it under control.

Danny Sweatt said his family would move in with relatives until "we can figure out what to do next."

The home was estimated to be 150 years old. The actual cause of the fire had not been determined as of Thursday morning.

(Scott Seal at the Portageville Missourian-News contributed to this report.)

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