Fire Destroys Kansas Firefighter's Home

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Dec. 05--In a cruel twist of irony, a fire completely destroyed the home of a Stanton County firefighter on Saturday afternoon.

Stanton County Assistant Firefighter Chief Troy Wolf said that Wendell Housholder of Manter, his wife, Debbie, and their daughter were home when the blaze started at around 2 p.m.

"One of the residents heard a loud pop, which apparently started the fire, and they then called 911," Wolf said.

All three were able to escape with only minor injuries and smoke inhalation. They were treated at the scene and are temporarily staying at their daughter's home in Manter.

Housholder has been a firefighter for the fire department in Manter for more than 20 years.

"After your home is completely gone, you're shocked," Wolf said about Housholder's property loss.

Fighting the fire was complicated by snowy and windy conditions. Stanton County Fire Chief Bill Umberger, who has served with Housholder several times over the years, said that the most difficult element, aside from the fire itself, was the cold temperatures.

"There was wind and snow, but the cold is the worst part because when we left there last night it was 17 degrees, and the temperature was never above about 32 degrees all day long, so the cold causes the water to freeze up and makes it tough on us," Umberger said.

"We had 15 firefighters from the Stanton County Fire Department, and Grant County Fire Department provided two of their firefighters, and it took us until after 8 o'clock last night to get it out," Wolf said.

Umberger said it took almost six hours to contain the blaze. It also took quite a bit of equipment.

"Actually, I had eight of my units from Johnson over there, and that ranged from the large pumpers even -- we were using our smaller hose reels and lines off the brush trucks. That's just my stuff, that's not counting the truck that came from Grant County," Umberger said. "Skyland Grain also provided two water tenders to shuttle the water to the scene."

Despite the duration, no other residences were affected by the blaze.

The Housholder residence is located on Main Street in Manter, two blocks north of Highway 160. It was built in the early part of the 20th century as a grocery store and locker plant with living quarters upstairs. The building has been remodeled several times, and the modifications to the building plus the brick and stucco exterior also made it difficult to fight the fire.

"Apparently, originally it was built as a grocery store and somewhere along the way, someone had converted it into a lower and upper story home with apartments," Umberger said. "The Housholders just used it as a home without renting it out."

He said that the cause of the fire remains under investigation.

A fund has been established at the Johnson State Bank, Attn: Housholder Fire Fund. Donations may be mailed to P.O. Box 130, Johnson City, KS 67855 or left at the bank at 202 S. Main St. in Johnson City.