Fire destroyed a home in Midtown St Joseph Monday afternoon.

The fire at 723 South 14th was called in by a neighbor at 2:41 p.m. Monday. Captain and acting Battalion Chief Jamie McVicar of the St Joseph Fire Department says when he arrived there was heavy smoke coming from the attic.

“Shortly thereafter, it had gotten too unstable to make an interior, agressive attack on it,” McVicar said, “so we had to pull our crews out defensively, until we got a handle on the fire.”

“We had two master streams, two aerial devices set up, as well as three hand lines. We were flowing approximately three thousand gallons per minute.”

By six p.m. crews were still pouring water on hot spots.

One woman and four children lived in the house, along with some pets.

“We did open the door to let out two cats and one dog that were very scared, but they’re perfectly fine,” McVicar said. The human occupants were not at home when the fire broke out.

St Joseph Fire Inspector Jason Ziph said on Tuesday that the cause is undetermined.  He said the house was a total loss and pegged damage at $50 thousand to the structure and another $25 thousand to the contents.