A house fire southwest of Fosston, Minn., Saturday night destroyed a home and sent one of the residents to the hospital.
According to Fosston Fire Chief Jim Aagenes, the call came in at 7:05 p.m. Saturday to the rural residence about 10 miles southwest of Fosston, on the Polk-Mahnomen county line.
"The second story was totally involved in flames," when firefighters first arrived, Aagenes said. About 18 firefighters from volunteer departments in Fosston, McIntosh and Winger responded. "It looks like it was a chimney fire."
But the investigation isn't complete.
However, the fire damage located in one room of the old, wooden story-and-a-half farm house appeared to indicate the stove pipe from an old wood stove on the first floor got too hot and started a fire in the space between the ceiling and the second floor, he said.
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The upper floor was wrecked by the fire and the first floor was ruined by smoke and water, he said.
"They lost everything," he said of the possessions of the young couple, with a young child and another relative that were home at the time. They had only lived there a short time and were all able to evacuate the house after discovering the fire, Aagenes said.
The father, however, tried to fight the fire while waiting for the firefighters and inhaled too much smoke. Although he was able to talk to firefighters once they arrived, later in the evening he went to the hospital in Fosston and later was airlifted to Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis for treatment for smoke inhalation, Aagenes said.
Aagenes did not release the names of the victims.
Firefighters spent about three hours at the residence.
Reach Lee at (701) 780-1237; (800) 477-6572, ext. 237; or send e-mail to slee@gfherald.com
