Fire destroys house in southeastern Calhoun County

Oct. 01--IRON CITY -- A Wednesday afternoon fire destroyed a house off Field Road in the Iron City area.

Michael Ivey, 43, looked at the smoldering wreckage of what was his home and said little, his mother and father standing close by, as firefighters worked to extinguish the blaze.

Ivey lived in the house with his wife, Stephanie. Neither were home when the fire started. The couple was renting the house; they did not have insurance.

Ivey's not sure what they'll do now.

"I don't know," he said. "Start over, I guess."

No people were injured, but the couple's two dogs -- Shih Tzus Buddy and Brinkley -- hadn't been seen, and were believed to be inside when the fire started. One of the dogs gave birth to a litter of four puppies two weeks ago.

The fire was reported just after 2 p.m., according to Quad Cities Volunteer Fire Department chief Van Roberts.

Roberts said when he and his men arrived with three fire engines, the east side of the house was engulfed in flames, with the rest soon to follow.

"It was fully involved," he said, with "fire in the attic and under the floor."

At 3 p.m., the house's roof had fallen in, except for a peak over the porch. Flames danced from what remained of the walls as Roberts and ten other volunteers, some from White Plains Volunteer Fire Department, battled the blaze.

In an hour, very little of the house stood, and the firefighters began pulling tangled pieces of the sheet metal roof from the ruins to extinguish the last of the fire.

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