The District Fire Chief for Kleefeld estimates the loss at over half a million dollars in a house fire Sunday. It started around 2:30 p.m. in a rural subdivision a couple of miles northwest of Kleefeld. John Schroeder says they got the alarm around 2:30 p.m. for a garage fire. He says it spread to the house and quickly turned into a dangerous situation and they had to pull all firefighters out of the structure.

"When we got there, the fire was already in the attic and, we didn't know this from the beginning, but it was also in the basement. Just the way the garage was attached to the house, we had heat and fire going under the main floor into the basement and it had a finished ceiling so, by the time the fire broke through, the floor was already caving in."

Schroeder says the fire started in the garage but he is not certain of the cause. He notes the homeowner had parked his vehicle in the garage about 30 minutes earlier but is not sure what the Office of the Fire Commissioner was able to determine.

Firefighters were on scene until about 10:30. Schroeder and three colleagues stayed on scene until about midnight to check for hot spots. He returned again at 4:30 Monday morning and found two small fires in the garage area that he quickly extinguished.

Schroeder says firefighters from Kleefeld, Grunthal and New Bothwell did their best in a very difficult situation.

"No one got hurt. We had 20-25 firefighters out and they did a great job. We almost ran out of air bottles but we managed to keep that going. We had lots of water so that wasn't a problem either. All-in-all, I think we did good."

Schroeder notes a large family lived in the house.

A friend says the Bool (pronounced bowl) family has 13 children and is currently staying with family. He adds the family lost a 19 year-old son in a head-on collision late last fall.

An account has been set up at Steinbach Credit Union for those who want to help the family. It is called the Bool Family Donation account.

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Crews Battle House Fire Near Kleefeld