A firefighter throws smoldering books out of a second-floor window. The family lost many books in the fire. (Connie Jo Discoe/McCook Daily Gazette) [Click to enlarge]

A McCook couple's second house fire in a month is blamed on a short in electrical wiring in the attic of their home at 401 E. First.

McCook Fire Chief Marc Harpham said this morning that a cold, strong winter-like wind out of the north was a blessing, keeping the flames in the attic and in a southeast second-floor bedroom from spreading throughout Walt and Jean Sehnert's home.

Harpham said the fire started with the electrical short, not in the home's brick fireplace or chimney, or in the basement furnace room, where a fire Oct. 4 started.

That fire started when a pilot light ignited fumes from an aerosol adhesive can being used by an asbestos abatement company as workers removed a boiler. Structural, content and minor smoke damage then was estimated at $1,500.

In this second fire, Harpham estimated structural damage at $50,000 and content damage at $25,000.

Harpham said that Jean Sehnert was home when she smelled smoke and discovered smoke filling the second floor. She called 911 and left the house, he said. Walt was at the family's bakery at the time of the call.

Harpham said the fire burned through the ceiling and dropped into a bedroom/study on the southeast corner of the house. He said the north wind helped firefighters keep the fire contained to the southeast corner of the second floor. "A wind from the south would have pushed the fire throughout the upstairs and the attic space," Harpham said, rather than venting it and accumulated heat through two windows on the south and east sides of the two-story house.

"We confined the fire damage to the bedroom and attic," Harpham said. There was extensive heat and smoke damage on the home's second floor and minor smoke damage on the first floor.

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"We used very little water," Harpham said, as firefighters extinguished the blaze quickly. The call came in to the McCook Public Safety Center dispatch center at 5:34 p.m., and the fire was under control by 5:50 p.m.

The room that burned is the study in which Walt writes his weekly columns about McCook history that appear in the Gazette.

About 25 McCook firefighters responded to the call, and were assisted by members of the Red Willow Western Rural Fire Department. "We really appreciated their help," Harpham said. Firefighters left the scene about 12:30 a.m., today.

Harpham said that his department's investigation of the fire confers with that completed by a deputy fire marshal from Elm Creek, who was called by Harpham to assist in the search for the cause of the fire.