Fire east of Galeton destroys home; Red Cross offers assistance to 6 displaced residents

March 01--A fire early Wednesday morning completely destroyed a home five miles east of Galeton.

Interim Galeton Fire Protection District Chief Steve Fritz said the home, 38517 Weld County Road 65, exists in a gap in unincorporated Weld that is not covered by any fire department jurisdiction. He said Galeton firefighters got the call just before 6 a.m. The home is about a 15-minute drive from Galeton. He said the home was fully engulfed in flame when the first unit arrived on scene. Ultimately, firefighters from Galeton, Briggsdale, Eaton and Kersey all responded to battle the blaze. Firefighters battled the blaze for about 3 hours before extinguishing it.

"They did lose everything," he said. "The homeowners said something about their insurance being lapsed, or they were between insurance companies. They lost everything."

Red Cross was called, and it is providing assistance to the six people who lived in the home, according to a news release from the Red Cross.

Fritz said four adults and two children were living in the home. Neither the Red Cross nor the fire department provided the names of the residents.

He said one resident in the home woke up early to get ready for work and noticed the fire. That person roused all the other occupants and got them out of the home.

All told about 12 firefighters and four firetrucks were on scene, along with a Banner Health ambulance, which provided medical checks of the home occupants. They declined treatment. However, two dogs and two cats were killed in the fire.

Two vehicles that were parked in front of the home also had heat damage.

Fritz said he did not immediately have an estimate of the cost of the damages. According to Weld County records, the prefabricated home was valued at $53,240.

Weld County Sheriff's Office spokesman Cpl. Matt Turner said because the home was not in any fire department's jurisdiction, sheriff's deputies had taken over the investigation into the cause of the fire. He said the investigation was active and deputies had not determined a cause.

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