FIRE DESTROYS RESIDENCE OF CAPE FAMILY

Fire destroyed a Cape Girardeau house Friday, leaving a family of three without a place to live.

Firefighters and police responded to a call of a fire started by a furnace at about 1:30 p.m. at 418 S. Hanover. Nearly 20 firefighters battled the blaze for over an hour.

The fire destroyed the house and all its contents. No one was hurt.

"Everything we owned was in that house," said Natria Taylor, who has lived in the rental property with her three children since October. "And now we have no place to stay."

All of their furniture, appliances and clothes were destroyed, she said.

Taylor said she would find a place to stay temporarily until they find a new residence. She was hoping that her landlord would help her find a new place to live.

Taylor's son, Bobby Ford, discovered the fire.

"We were watching TV in the living room when we smelled smoke," Taylor said. "We saw the fire and that's when we got out of there."

Cape Girardeau Fire Chief Daniel White was on the scene. It was his first fire since taking over as fire chief last week.

"It was a tough one," White said. "There were three different ceilings. They were difficult to get to, and it made it hard to look for the fire."

Firefighters had to saw several holes into the roof to fight the blaze. They had to chop a hole in the front of the residence to get at flames in the front quarter of the house. They also had to fight icy grounds and below-freezing temperatures.

"It's a lot more difficult to fight a fire in this weather," White said. "It's just the same for us as it is someone walking down an icy sidewalk."

He said in addition to firefighters sliding around, the cold effects firefighting in other ways as well. The cold tends to hold smoke lower to the ground, which hurts visibility, he said.

It also inhibits movement on the part of firefighters, which wastes valuable seconds, he said. It could also could freeze dormant water in hoses, he said.

Water that is applied to roofs often freezes, White said. If firefighters must get on the roof, the frozen water might cause them fall.

"So fighting a fire in cold weather is never as easy as it is during the summer," White said. "But it's all a part of the job."