Wilcox, Neb. — Firefighters from several jurisdictions battled a fire in a two-story house in Wilcox on Tuesday evening. Wilcox Fire Chief Steve Borgman says the fire department was paged, “at approximately 7:40 of a bedroom on fire, when we arrived, we had the second floor involved, with flames.”
Borgman says the majority of the fire damage was centered in two, upstairs bedrooms. Borgman says the first floor sustained smoke and water damage. He says there were six people in the home at the time of the fire, one adult and five children, and all were able to escape the house safely. Borgman says Red Cross was contacted to take care of the residents’ immediate needs. He says there were no injuries to residents or firefighters at the scene.
The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Nebraska State Fire Marshal’s Office.
Borgman says when their pages go out, members of Quad Cities Mutual Aid, are also paged, which brings into play, the resources of nine other departments. He estimated a total of 66 firefighters responded to the scene. Borgman says there were plenty of pumper trucks on hand to put the fire out and do overhaul work.
Borgman says the fire was extinguished in about one-hour, with another hour spent finding the hot spots in the walls. Borgman says the fire has rendered the house, “unlivable” and the owner has been contacted to have their insurance company do an assessment of the damage.
Borgman reminded everyone to make sure they have working smoke detectors in their homes. Borgman says there were no working smoke detectors in the residence.
