Fire destroyed a house in Butternuts on Wednesday, leaving three people homeless and killing two dogs and a cat, the Gilbertsville fire chief said.
About 60 firefighters responded to the blaze at 151 Tillson Road in the town of Butternuts, Chief David Robinson late Wednesday night. The cause of the fire, which started in the garage, is under investigation, he said.
No one was home when the fire started, and Robinson said a passer-by saw the blaze and stopped at a nearby farm to get help.
Kimberly Guernsey owns the house, which also was occupied by Colleen Merced and a 15-year-old male whose name was withheld because of his age, Robinson said. The American Red Cross is helping the occupants, who were staying with relatives Wednesday night, he said.
Guernsey works at A.O. Fox Memorial Hospital in Oneonta, Robinson said, and the dogs were Labrador retriever-mixed breed.
The blaze spread from the garage into the 21/2-story wood-frame house, he said. The blaze was difficult to fight when in the upper floors, and crews used interior and exterior tactics, he said.
``There was a lot of smoke and flames,'' Robinson said.
Crews drove six tankers to shuttle water from a pond about one-eighth miles away from the house, Robinson said.
The Gilbertsville Fire Department was called out at about 4:20 p.m. and was returning to the station at about 9:30 p.m. The area fire log reported that crews from Morris, Wells Bridge, Unadilla, Otego West Laurens, Sidney, South New Berlin and Franklin were called for mutual aid.
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