Home near Walker destroyed by fire

Firefighters from Milo, Nevada and Walker work to open up the area around the front porch of this house south of Walker corner to make sure no embers remain to rekindle the fire. Firefighters believe the fire started upstairs in the rear but no official report has been issued. The structure was the home of Travis and Stacey Keith and their three children.

By Steve Moyer

Nevada Daily Mail

Travis and Stacey Keith and their three children left their home Wednesday morning with no idea that it wouldn't be different from any other day. By 9 a.m., that had all changed. The couple's home was in flames; and they and neighbors gathered around, watching firefighters trying to extinguish the blaze.

Adam Ashby, 12, Walker, reported the fire that gutted the home of Travis and Stacey Keith. Ashby was driving past on a four-wheeler when he noticed smoke coming from the house. He drove to his grandparents house, about a half a mile away, and called authorities from there.

Stacey was at her mother's house when she got the news.

"No one was home when this started," Keith said. "I was at my mother's when I found out."

A 12-year-old neighbor alerted authorities to the fire. Alan Ashby was going past on an ATV when he noticed the smoke.

"I was just going by on a four-wheeler when I noticed the smoke coming out of the roof," Ashby said. "I went to my grandparents house -- they live about a half a mile away -- and we called 911 from there."

Firefighters battled the blaze for several hours Wednesday morning before declaring the fire under control. Vernon County Ambulance district personnel were on hand to make sure the firefighters were sufficiently hydrated and were not suffering from overexertion in the summer heat.

No official cause of the fire has been determined; but Walker firefighter Roy Lee Foreman said he thought the fire had started upstairs, in the rear of the home.

"We can't say for certain, but it looks like it stared in the upstairs," Foreman said. "I think it was in the back."

Pumper trucks made several trips to haul water to the scene and firefighters from Milo, Nevada and Walker responded to the fire. At one point neighbors who had stopped along the road to view the action had to scramble to move their vehicles so the Nevada fire truck could make its way to the scene.

While the structure remained standing it appeared to have been completely gutted by the fire.