Waukesha house fire results in $75,000 worth of damage

Published on: 6/25/2013

A house fire early Tuesday morning resulting in $75,000 worth of damage may have been caused by lighting.

Battalion Chief Joe Hoffman said the City of Waukesha Fire Dispatch Center and Fire and Police departments were alerted at 2:55 a.m. of a possible structure fire at a single-family residence, 1653 Moccasin Trail. The call was first taken at 2:53 a.m.

When units arrived on scene at 3:05 a.m. they found smoke and heat conditions in the walls around the fireplace.

Homeowners woke up to the sound of a lightning strike and were attempting to fall back asleep when they smelled smoke, and heard popping and cracking; the smoke alarms also went off.

They called 911 and when firefighters arrived, the residents directed them to where they heard the cracking and felt a wall that was hot.

According to Hoffman, fire crews exposed the area behind the walls and located the fire.

Fire crews quickly extinguished the fire, and continued to check for fire extension in the attic space.

Hoffman reported the crew's quick actions limited fire damage to the area of origin with some minor smoke damage to the remainder of the two-story house.

There were no injuries and the city did not require mutual aid for the incident.

City of Waukesha Police and Fire Investigators are still working on determining an exact cause for the fire, but early indications are that the fire may have been started by a lightning strike.

Damage is estimated at $75,000 to the building and contents, the assessed value of the property, pre-fire was $718,000.

The residents returned to their home and are working with their insurance company to began the recovery process.