(La Porte County, IN) - A home on Pine Lake, just outside of La Porte has been reduced to near ashes following a fire Tuesday morning.

 

At around 9:30 am, Firefighters responded to 48 Nilewood Dr. where a home was fully engulfed in flames. The A-frame home was owned by Kevin and Stacy Pugh, and had a basement and garage.

 

Center Township Volunteer Fire Department Capt. Eric Haverstock said nobody was home at the time, but sadly a dog inside the residence was presumed dead.

 

“It went up real fast,” said Ryan Koepke, who lives directly across the street and called 911 after noticing smoke coming from the house.  Koepke said his neighbors were at work at the time, but returned after notified about the blaze.

 

Sadly, he said “now, they got to pick their lives back up."

 

Along with the home, the fire destroyed an older style Ford Mustang, a boat, and two motorcycles that were parked in the garage. Pugh allegedly owned the Mustang since he was in high school.

 

Haverstock said there was no chance of saving the home because of how advanced the flames had spread before firefighters from multiple agencies arrived.

 

“We did the best knock down on the fire as we could,” he said.

 

In addition to smoke and flames, Haverstock said visibility was near zero from snow, along with temperatures in the lower teens.  Eventually, parts of the heavily damaged second floor collapsed inside the attached garage beneath it.

 

“Everything will be a total loss, unfortunately,” he said.

 

Haverstock said it was too early to know what started the fire, but the Indiana State Fire Marshal’s office was contacted to help.

Firefighters from La Porte, and volunteers from Scipio, Coolspring and Springfield townships assisted in putting out the blaze.