MONROE — The investigation of a house fire early on Monday morning continued hours after departments from as far away as Freeport and Davis, Ill. responded to a call for assistance through the mutual aid system, officials said.

The fire was called in just before 1:10 a.m. and was knocked down completely more than an hour later. However, it was already rolling when the first crews arrived, according to Monroe’s (acting) Fire Chief Al Rufer.

“I was on scene in roughly four and a half minutes after the page went out, and the fire was already through the roof when I got on scene,” Rufer said.

The home is located in the 1100 block of 15th Avenue, just north of Minhas Brewery and south of Summit Credit Union. 

Within six minutes of the first call from Monroe Police Department officers on scene, the fire had spread from the kitchen to fully engulf the home. Electrical wires from the alley behind the house were on the ground, and Alliant Energy was called to respond and shut off electricity to the area.

Browntown, Belleville, Monticello, Monroe Rural and Orangeville fire departments were initially called in the first Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS) call, with further departments responding. 

Crews used a ladder truck to douse flames coming out of the top of the two-story, wood-frame house, while others fought it from the ground and the home’s sides.

Both Rufer and Monroe Police Chief Fred Kelley declined to cite a cause for the fire, saying it remains under investigation. Rufer also declined to speculate on a dollar amount of the damage, but the structure could be a total loss. No one was inside the residence. 

There were no injuries from among the nearly dozen area fire crews from throughout the region that responded to help with the blaze.

“My understanding is that nobody was living there now, or at least nobody was home,” Kelley said.

— Adam Krebs contributed to this report.