North Madison Home Significantly Damaged After Fire Wednesday Morning (With Video And Photo Gallery)

Vern Beatrice was working in his office on the second floor of his home just before 10 a.m. Wednesday morning when the smoke alarm went off. His first thought was for his wife Mary, and he remembered with relief she was at her volunteer job at the Serendipity consignment shop.

He went to check the smoke alarms. "I started to go down to the first floor and the smoke was so heavy I could hardly see the stairs, so I immediately ran outside, grabbed my cell phone and called 911," he said.

He said he was careful to leave quickly and to not open any doors, other than the door to get outside. "I thought don't let any air in, let the firefighters do that," he said. "I ran right out of the garage."

Once outside, he thought again about his wife Mary. "Sometimes she can't move too quickly and I was just glad she was out of the house," he said.

Small amount of smoke outside, too much heat inside

More than 40 firefighters from three towns responded quickly to the two-alarm fire at the Colonial-style home at 85 Winding Road in North Madison, and went on the attack. North Madison Volunteer Fire Department Chief Brian Kozak, the incident commander on the scene, said firefighters sized up the situation upon arrival and could see only a small amount of smoke from the outside.

"Not much was showing, so we did our 360 walk around and noticed smoke near the door of the basement," he said. "We started an interior attack with a hose line and we tried to get down there from inside, but there was too much heat."

Firefighters then changed tactics, and went outside and around to the rear of the house. "When we pushed the door open, there was a lot of heat and smoke," he said.

As they fought the fire in the basement, it snaked its way up through the exterior walls of the house and up to the roof. Working on a ladder propped against the side of the house, firefighters opened up a portion of the roof and extinguished the fire there. While that was taking place, another team of firefighters continued to work on the basement until the fire was finally out.

Home uninhabitable, extent of damage to be determined

Both the interior and exterior of the house were significantly damaged. Fire and town officials on the scene said it was uninhabitable, but said it's too early to tell the exact extent of the damage. After fighting the fire and smoke for several hours Wednesday, firefighters were still working on the house as of noon on Wednesday and then had to turn to the task of cleaning up, collecting all of their gear, and securing the scene.

Kozak said one firefighter sustained a minor burn to the face, but that the firefighter did not have to be transported for treatment. He said the cause of the blaze was still under investigation.

Mary said the main thing was that Vern was safe. Like Mary, Vern is an active volunteer in town. A member and officer in the Masons, Elks, American Legion and other organizations in town, he had been working on paperwork for those volunteer organizations when he heard the smoke alarm.

"Thank God my husband is OK," Mary said.

Going back to square one

She said she also was sorry to see the damage to her home of 41 years. She and her husband raised their four girls there, and she said they purchased most of the furniture about sixty years ago when she and Vern were first married.

"I was too much of a sentimentalist to ever get rid of any of it," she said. "We like what we have and we take care of what we have. I have no desire to buy anything new. But we'll just have to go back to square one."

She added that she and Vern were grateful for their neighbors. "Tragedy happens and people want to help," she said. While firefighters were fighting the fire, she and Vern took refuge in the home of their neighbor Dave Miller. "Our neighbors, they come out to help you," Mary said.

Miller said he saw smoke coming from the Beatrice home shortly after the fire broke out. He called and the house line was not working. Seconds later, he saw Vern emerge from the house. He said he was happy to help and, like Mary, was just relieved that Vern was all right.

This story was originally posted at 2:01 p.m Wednesday and was updated with additional information throughout the day.