Cause of house fire confirmed

At Monday night's meeting of the town council, Fire Chief Fred Devish reported to the governing body the cause of the structure fire that took the home of a Moorcroft family in the early hours of last Tuesday morning.

According to the chief, the fire originated with an electric space heater that had been in operation on the front porch.

There were 23 firemen on site, he said: 13 volunteers from Moorcroft, six from Pine Haven and four from Sundance.

The first truck was at the scene within five minutes and spraying water within ten minutes of the call, according to volunteer Ben Glenn, who was one of the responders and among the first on scene.

The chief said that the experience "was an eye opener for some of the new guys on the spot, but it was great; they stepped up and did well." He expressed his pride in his crew because, "Everybody on the fire department thinks. It's not just, 'I go to this point and I don't know what to do'. They all think ahead."

Mayor Dick Claar commended the first responders, "Congratulations, I think you guys did a great job; you, the police and the ambulance service."