FD house fire blamed on meat smoker
No one injured; family displaced after Sunday blaze
-Messenger photo by Bill Shea <BR> The rear of a home at 1914 Fourth Ave. S. was heavily damaged by a fire Sunday evening. The fire, caused by a problem with a meat smoker, started outside the house and spread to the interior. No one was injured.
-Messenger photo by Bill Shea <br> Extensive fire damage is visible on the northeast corner of a house at 1914 Fourth Ave. S. The Sunday evening blaze was caused by a meat smoker outside the house and flames spread to the interior.
-Messenger photo by Bill Shea <BR> The rear of a home at 1914 Fourth Ave. S. was heavily damaged by a fire Sunday evening. The fire, caused by a problem with a meat smoker, started outside the house and spread to the interior. No one was injured.
-Messenger photo by Bill Shea <br> Extensive fire damage is visible on the northeast corner of a house at 1914 Fourth Ave. S. The Sunday evening blaze was caused by a meat smoker outside the house and flames spread to the interior.
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A Fort Dodge house was seriously damaged by a Sunday evening fire caused by a meat smoker.
No one was hurt, but the family that lived at 1914 Fourth Ave. S. has been forced to stay with relatives because their home can't be occupied.
The fire was reported at 6:07 p.m. Sunday.
Fire Department Lt. Eric Conell said logs fell out of a meat smoker that was in use. The logs were hot enough to set the outside of the house on fire. The flames then spread into the house.
Conell said firefighters "made a fast attack and got it knocked down quickly.''
The back of the house suffered the most damage. There, flames appeared to have burned through the wall in the northeast corner. Siding on part of the back of the house was burned or melted away all the way to the roof.
Firefighters were on the scene for about an hour and a half.
Online records of the Webster County Assessor's Office list the home's owners as Gabriel and Natasha Johnson.