Waukesha - Five members of a Waukesha family, including a 4-week-old infant and 18-month-old toddler, escaped from their burning home early Thursday in a fire blamed on careless smoking by a visiting family member, city Fire Marshal Brian Charlesworth said.
The only injuries sustained, he said, were to two people walking near the 702 Linden St. fire who fell on ice and were transported by ambulance to the hospital.
Charlesworth said a visiting cousin of the couple was sleeping on the first level and awoke about 2:30 a.m. She thought she'd left a light on but instead found a fire that started on the porch where she'd been smoking. It had burned through a front wall and went up through the wall to the attic.
She alerted the four upstairs at about the same time an alarm company contacted the family, Charlesworth said.
Twenty-seven crew members from all five stations responded. First arrivals found flames shooting from the front of the home and front porch. The fire, which is considered accidental, was out by 6 a.m., Charlesworth said.
The home, listed on tax records to Randolph and Carrie Jameson with a full market value of $171,300, is considered a total loss, the fire marshal said.
The Red Cross put the family up in a hotel.