APPLETON (NBC 26) — One person is without a place to live following a house fire in Appleton Monday evening.
At around 11:30 p.m. Monday, the Appleton Fire Department responded to a residential house fire on West Franklin Street, west of Appleton’s downtown.
The Appleton Fire Department said the initial call indicated that there was a couch on fire, on the front porch. The caller pounded on the door to wake up the home's occupant who evacuated to safety with their dog.
When firefighters arrived, the department says the couch fire had extended into the first floor through a window. Fire crews were able to extinguish the fire within 15 minutes.
The fire department says the fire did cause damage to the porch, including damaging one exterior wall, some contents just inside the window, and there was significant smoke and heat damage throughout the house.
Firefighters say the house is currently uninhabitable. The Red Cross is working with the home's occupant to provide assistance.
The fire department doesn't know the cause of the fire at this time and says the fire is under investigation. An initial estimate for the cost of the damage, structure, and contents, is about $75,000. Smoke alarms were working at the time.
This fire marks the first red bulb in the Appleton Fire Department's Keep the Wreath Green holiday safety program.
Appleton fire stations are displaying a wreath with green bulbs from late November until New Year’s Day. For each commercial or residential fire that occurs in Appleton, the department will replace a green bulb with a red one on each of the wreaths.
