(Kingsbury, IN) - Burning a brush pile on a windy day might have been the cause of a fire that heavily damaged the home of a Kingsbury man who had lived there since birth.

 

Firefighters from Kingsbury and other surrounding departments responded to a two-story house on a more than three-acre parcel late in the morning at 6527 S. 50 West.

 

The owner, Dennis Young, 71, said he was burning an old garage that had been knocked down over the summer in a brush pile that included leaves about 150 feet from his residence. As he was walking away from the fire to do something else, he noticed smoke coming from the corner of his house.

 

He believes the fire must have been caused by burning embers blown into the side of his residence because it was windy and there was only green grass between the brush pile and his dwelling.

 

“The wind must have done it because I don’t know what else would have done it,” he said.

 

Kingsbury Fire Chief Mark Ritter would not speculate on the cause of the fire.

 

“Anything is possible. We’re looking into it. That’s all we can say right now,” he said.

 

The fire was under control, albeit still burning three hours later.

 

Ritter said it took a while to put out the flames, which had spread inside the walls and into the attic, requiring water to be poured onto the roof from a ladder truck. Likewise, a number of walls had to be torn into to find and douse out flames.

 

“One piece at a time,” he said.

 

Young said there were a lot of memories in the house and antiques he had collected over the years therein. He plans to live nearby with his brother, Robert until he can have a new house built on the property.

 

“It’s a pretty sad day to see something like that happen,” he said.