MONROE - On Friday, Derek Myhand paid off the trailer he lived in with his fiancee and two sons.
On Monday afternoon, their home was lost in a fire. So, too, was a wedding gown and other items bought for their wedding next year.
Myhand, 26, shared the home with his fiancee Sarah Rogge, and two sons, Tyrek 5, and Kail, 3.
Myhand said he and the boys had left the home to run errands and get groceries, which took about an hour. Myhand said he saw the smoke upon returning the park, where he was met by a person who told him the trailer on fire was his.
Rogge was in Freeport working, he said.
About 36 members of the Monroe Fire Department were dispatched at about 3:20 p.m. Monday to the home in the Monroe Estates Mobile Home Park on West 21st Street, which had become engulfed in flames.
The fire was extinguished within three minutes after the first fire truck arrived, but the response time to the fire was 12 minutes because of traffic across town, according to Fire Chief Daryl Rausch. Green County EMS and Monroe Police also responded.
The cause of the fire was a faulty window air conditioner, Rausch said.
Neighbor Charles Gilroy shut off the gas, and helped get a construction trailer moved out of the driveway. He also entered the home in an attempt to rescue a dog, which he believed still lived at the house.
Myhand said he got rid of the dog after it nipped at his older son, and only goldfish remained in the home.
Gilroy entered the home on his belly, calling for the dog and banging the floor, but fled the burning structure when the front of the air conditioner fell onto the couch, setting it on fire.
"I couldn't believe it went so fast," Gilroy said.
He could feel the flooring softening and wrinkling up underneath him, Gilroy said.
"That's when I decided it was time to get out of there," he added.
Gilroy said the air conditioner later fell out of the window, where he and the park manager put it out with fire extinguishers.
The interior and exterior of the home were being remodeled.
The refurnished kitchen and bathroom, and items bought for a 2010 wedding, including the wedding gown, were destroyed.
Myhand proposed to Rogge at Christmas, and said she "got right to work," making preparations.
The wedding dress, decorations, invitations, cups and plates were in the computer room, he said.
Myhand said the trailer was paid off Friday, and he had done most of the remodeling work himself, but the house was insured, he said.
Myhand said he and his fiancee and kids will be able to stay with family in the area.
On Monday afternoon, their home was lost in a fire. So, too, was a wedding gown and other items bought for their wedding next year.
Myhand, 26, shared the home with his fiancee Sarah Rogge, and two sons, Tyrek 5, and Kail, 3.
Myhand said he and the boys had left the home to run errands and get groceries, which took about an hour. Myhand said he saw the smoke upon returning the park, where he was met by a person who told him the trailer on fire was his.
Rogge was in Freeport working, he said.
About 36 members of the Monroe Fire Department were dispatched at about 3:20 p.m. Monday to the home in the Monroe Estates Mobile Home Park on West 21st Street, which had become engulfed in flames.
The fire was extinguished within three minutes after the first fire truck arrived, but the response time to the fire was 12 minutes because of traffic across town, according to Fire Chief Daryl Rausch. Green County EMS and Monroe Police also responded.
The cause of the fire was a faulty window air conditioner, Rausch said.
Neighbor Charles Gilroy shut off the gas, and helped get a construction trailer moved out of the driveway. He also entered the home in an attempt to rescue a dog, which he believed still lived at the house.
Myhand said he got rid of the dog after it nipped at his older son, and only goldfish remained in the home.
Gilroy entered the home on his belly, calling for the dog and banging the floor, but fled the burning structure when the front of the air conditioner fell onto the couch, setting it on fire.
"I couldn't believe it went so fast," Gilroy said.
He could feel the flooring softening and wrinkling up underneath him, Gilroy said.
"That's when I decided it was time to get out of there," he added.
Gilroy said the air conditioner later fell out of the window, where he and the park manager put it out with fire extinguishers.
The interior and exterior of the home were being remodeled.
The refurnished kitchen and bathroom, and items bought for a 2010 wedding, including the wedding gown, were destroyed.
Myhand proposed to Rogge at Christmas, and said she "got right to work," making preparations.
The wedding dress, decorations, invitations, cups and plates were in the computer room, he said.
Myhand said the trailer was paid off Friday, and he had done most of the remodeling work himself, but the house was insured, he said.
Myhand said he and his fiancee and kids will be able to stay with family in the area.