TOWN OF WIOTA — A couple escaped uninjured but with nothing more than the clothes they were wearing after a fire destroyed their house Thursday morning, Dec. 6.

The house, located halfway between Woodford and South Wayne on County N just south of Jennings Road, was “completely gutted,” said Woodford Fire Chief Mark Rygh.

The call reporting the fire came in at about 8:30 a.m., with the Woodford, Wiota, Browntown and South Wayne Fire Departments and Woodford First Response and Argyle EMS responding.

Wesley and Debra Hird, the retired couple living in the house, were just getting up and still in their pajamas when they saw flames in the living room, Rygh said. The front half of the house was already starting to collapse when firetrucks arrived on scene.

“They basically got out with what they were wearing,” Rygh said.

Rygh said one of his firefighters lives about a mile away from the house and keeps firefighting gear in his vehicle so he was able to get there first to help the Hirds.

“He was there within two minutes and put them in his vehicle,” he said. “They were freezing to death.”

The firefighter was also able to rescue a couple of dogs on the property, Rygh said.

Firefighters were on scene approximately five hours, then went back to the fire station to fuel up before returning later that afternoon, Rygh said. Using a thermal imaging camera, they found and extinguished the few remaining fire “hot spots” by 6 p.m.

Rygh said there were two possible sources for the fire but declined to specify the sources because the house was “so burned up” it was impossible to determine definitively which source ignited the fire. The cause of the fire was not suspicious, he said.