Dexter fire chief Bruce Hafenstein didn’t have far to go when he responded to a house fire Wednesday evening.
The house on fire was his.
"It’s terrible," he said. "I don’t know if I’ll ever get my wife to walk through the door and sleep there or not."
The Hafenstein’s daughter discovered the fire.
"She came home and smelled smoke and called me. I come home and smelled smoke in the house. I climbed into the attic and the attic was full of smoke," Hafenstein said.
He used his radio to call the police department and ask the department page be sent and firefighters directed to a house with smoke in it. He didn’t say it was his house.
Winfield, Burden and?Cambridge firefighters responded along with the members of the Dexter volunteer department.
"They had to knock a hole in the roof and two in the ceiling in the house," Hafenstein said. "The blow-in insulation was smoldering and had to be drug out. There is smoke damage throughout the house."
The Hafensteins stayed with friends Wednesday night. He believes faulty electrical wiring may have caused the fire.
"We just want to thank everybody who helped out – all the rural fire departments, EMS and neighbors," he said.
An insurance adjuster was due to inspect the house Thursday.
