A flame was still burning this morning at the scene of a house that was destroyed by last night’s fire in the town of Almon.

Rubble that was burned down is now frozen.  There are remnants of appliances and other furniture that once occupied the house.  Bowler Fire Chief Dan Ladwig was at sight of the house this morning and says it was a heat tape that caused last night’s inferno.

“They stopped in [last night], the house was cold and they had some frozen pipes,” Ladwig said sitting outside the fire.  “They put their heat tape in there and that’s apparently what caused it.”

Ladwig said a woman and young children were at the house and safely made it out.  Several departments assisted with the controlling fire. The flames did not take long to build up power.

“One of the firefighters was on scene right away and then just like that a window blew out and within a matter of a couple minutes the house was totally engulfed,” Ladwig said.