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Home destroyed in blaze
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Plumes of smoke rise from the scene of a house fire as area fire departments assist the Browntown Fire Department Thursday morning along Davis Road, south of Browntown. (Times photo: Anthony Wahl)
BROWNTOWN - Fire destroyed an unoccupied home on Davis Road in Browntown Thursday morning, and the cause is still unknown.

The homeowner, Brad Kaster, and his wife Sara were not inside the home when the fire started. Kaster is a volunteer firefighter for the Browntown Fire Department and said on any other day, he would have been at home sleeping because he gets off work at 3 a.m.

"I guess it wasn't destined to be," Kaster said.

Kaster was at a doctor's appointment with his wife when he was paged there was a fire. He later found out it was his home.

He said he and his wife will be staying with relatives, but he isn't sure what to do next.

"That's something I have to talk with my wife about, where do we go from here," he said. "I have plenty of good friends helping me out."

The home is located southwest of Browntown in the W8900 block of Davis Road. By 5 p.m. Thursday, all that was left of the home was a twisted roof curling over the foundation with pipes jutting out of the ground.

Alan Rufer of the Monroe Fire Department said the cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Rufer's face was rosy when he said he had been at the residence since about 9:30 a.m. in subzero temperatures with the wind blowing.

"Yeah, it's freezing - I ought to know, we've been out here since this morning," Rufer said.

Emergency responders have been put to the test this week following a fatal crash on Monday, and several structure fires over the past two weeks.

"They tend to come in sprees," Rufer said.

Green County EMS, Browntown, South Wayne, Monroe, Argyle, Winslow, Juda and Orangeville fire departments responded to the scene at about 9:30 a.m. Thursday.