Blaze destroys Beatrice home along North 11th

BEATRICE – A late Friday night fire destroyed a house in southeast Nebraska.  It happened in the north part of Beatrice, in the fourteen-hundred block of North 11^th. Beatrice Firefighters were sent to the scene at around ten p.m., along with Beatrice Police officers. 

The blazed gutted a one-story home along the east side of the street.  Police assisted firefighters in stretching fire line from a hydrant about a half-block north of the blaze.  

Acting Fire Captain Dave Heckman says a family…at least four adults and a child escaped the home along with a family pet.  One firefighter suffered a strained back fighting the blaze. Heckman says the cause of the fire was traced to an electrical problem.  The fire originated in a bedroom toward the front side of the house.

One fire engine and an ambulance were sent to the scene and police blocked off the area near Monroe and Park Streets.

Heckman said the fire was brought under control in about a half-hour.  Firefighters were on the scene until midnight.  The damage was estimated at $25,000 to the structure and another $5,000 to $10,000 damage to its contents. 

It was the second house fire in the past couple of weeks in Beatrice….the third since the Christmas holiday.