UPDATE: Destructive New Year’s Day house fire under investigation

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Fire totally destroyed the house at 1319 Fifth St. in Perry Monday. There were no injuries in the blaze, which firefighters fought in 23-degrees-below-zero weather.

Insanely cold temperatures complicated the work of the Perry Volunteer Fire Department as it battled a house fire early Monday.

The Perry Volunteer Fire Department fought extremes both of heat and cold in a house fire at 1319 Fifth St. early Monday morning that completely destroyed the 99-year-old structure.

Smoke and flames were visible at the rear of the house near Fifth and Pattee streets when the Perry Police Department arrived on the scene and checked the house for occupants.

By the time firefighters arrived on scene about 1 a.m., “the fire had been burning long enough that it was self-ventilating out of the D side of the house near an addition that extended to the west of the structure,” according to the report of the Perry Volunteer Fire Department.

The house is owned by Jose Diaz of Perry, according to the report.

“We were able to bring the fire under control quickly,” said Perry Volunteer Fire Department Chief Chris Hinds, “but not before the fire had already spread through the structure enough to consider this a total loss.”

Nineteen Perry firefighters responded to the emergency, first attacking the rear of the structure before making entry through the front. They worked on the blaze for more than four hours in temperatures that dipped to 23 degrees below zero.

“I’m glad none of our people got hurt in that weather,” said Perry Volunteer Fire Department First Assistant Chief Brian Eiteman. “Once you get a layer of ice built up, it kind of keeps you warm.”

The firefighters left the scene about 6 a.m.

Shortly after 7 a.m., the Perry Police Department reported “heavy smoke and flame showing from the structure we had just left less than an hour ago,” Eiteman said. Seven firefighters returned to the scene.

“We contacted the Public Works Department to bring a backhoe,” Hinds said, “to pull some of the collapsed roof off of the ground level floor so we could extinguish the fire burning between the collapsed portions of the structure.”

By 9:15 a.m. the fire was finally extinguished.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, Eiteman said.

The Perry First Responders also responded.

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