News
Local family loses home to fire in Westhope
Scott Wagar
01/20/2015
A home in the Westhope Trailer Court was lost to fire on Sunday, Jan. 11, leaving a young family without a home or any of their personal belongings due to the intensity of the fire.
Nathan and Amanda Zahn’s home was lost to fire due to complication in attempts to thaw out their home’s water line after it had frozen during the extremely cold weather at the time.
“The renter said that he heard a popping sound where they were thawing out the line and when he got to the source of the sound the fire was already going pretty strong,” said Jason Klokstad, fire chief for the Westhope Fire Department. “The fire was so strong the family got out of the home immediately.”
The Westhope Fire Department spent three and a half hours at the scene, but Klokstad said the home is a totally lost.
At the time of the fire, Nathan, Amanda and one of their children were home. The three of them were able to get out of the home without injuries. However, the family’s pet was lost in the fire.
The Zahn family also lost all their personal belongings in the fire.
The fire is not under investigation by the state fire marshal and the fire has been ruled an accident.