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Calumet, Iowa — A house was rendered uninhabitable in a fire on Wednesday, February 14, 2024, in Calumet, and a dog is being blamed for the blaze.
According to Calumet Fire Chief Korey Dau, at about 8:05 p.m., the Calumet Fire Department was called to the report of smoke coming from a house at 306 South Morse Avenue in Calumet.
The chief says there was an electric stove in the house, with some things stored on it. He says as far as they can figure, since no one was in the house at the time of the fire except a dog, that the dog must have somehow turned on one of the burners. He says they don’t know what was on the stove, as it was all burned up when they got there. He says the wall next to the stove was also hot so they opened up the wall to make sure there was no fire inside. Dau tells us that they didn’t have to spray any water, but there was significant smoke damage throughout the house, and the kitchen wall is very black. He says he doesn’t think the home is currently inhabitable.
Dau says no injuries were reported.
The Sutherland department was paged too, but Dau says when they found out there was no fire in the house, they told the Sutherland firefighters that they could turn around.
He says the firefighters who responded were on the scene for about an hour.
