Rural Delta farmhouse wiped out by early-morning fire

An early-morning fire wiped out a rural Cape Girardeau County farmhouse Monday, officials said, displacing a family of six but injuring none of them.

Crews from five rural fire departments worked into the dawn to contain the blaze, but Delta fire chief Alvin Frank Jr. said the house was essentially a total loss before firefighters even answered the call.

"It really just went up, like smoke up a chimney," Frank said. "It was an older house and there's no subfloor. So there was nothing to stop it once it got going."

A woman was awakened by smoke at one end of the house near a wood stove, Frank said, and alerted her husband and their three children. All made it out safely. The call came in about 12:45 a.m., he said.

By the time the Delta department arrived -- along with assisting departments from Advance, Mo., Oran, Mo., Whitewater and Gordonville -- flames were shooting through the roof, Frank said. Crews worked five hours to ensure that hot spots would not reignite.

The house sits along County Road 273 just off Highway 25 at about the midway point between Advance and Delta.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, Frank said. The family was not identified.

Pertinent address:

County Road 273 and Highway 25, Cape Girardeau County, Mo.