Edina Home Destroyed By Fire
Edina Home Destroyed By Fire
By Echo Menges
Early Friday morning April 20, 2012, at approximately 12:00
a.m., a rental home located at 507 East Morgan Street was destroyed by fire.
The home has been in the Arment family for generations and was being used by a
family of two adults, Matt Cuttler and Amy Ormon, and three children, ages 2, 8
and 12.
“We were sleeping and Matt woke up and nudged me and was
like what’s that smell? Something’s burning. You need to go check it out.” Said
Amy Ormon. “I got up and went into the kitchen and the whole back wall was on
fire. I screamed his name and then the smoke alarms went off and woke up all
the kids.”
According to Ormon several smoke detectors and a carbon
monoxide detector were installed only a few days before the fire. She credits
those detectors for saving the families lives.
“It was really quick. Maybe two minutes went by before
flames and really thick black smoke was everywhere. We got the kids out and the
van moved away from the house but we only got two or three arm loads out the
front door.” Said Ormon. “We didn’t hear any explosions at first but Chad
Arment’s work truck was parked in the back and I think the explosions were the
tires of that truck exploding.”
According to Ormon
floor cleaning supplies, floor wax and stripper, which is extremely flammable,
was being stored in a back room for the Arment floor cleaning company.
The Edina Volunteer Fire Department worked throughout the
morning to extinguish the fire pumping several thousands of gallons of water.
“We believe it was probably an electrical problem that
started the fire,” said Edina Firefighter Kelly Hayes, “and paint and some
chemicals being stored in the northeast corner of the house accelerated it. By
the time we got there it was fully engulfed. We had to go out there three
different times because smoldering insulation was flaring back up.”
Hayes reiterated the fact that the family recently installed
smoke detectors in the home and hopes others take heed in the lesson that smoke
detectors truly do save lives.
According to a member of the Arment family the house was not
insured and the family plans to tear what’s left of the structure down.
The family of five spent the remainder of that early fateful
morning at a friend’s house in Edina and was taken to Kirksville and put up at
a motel for a few days by the Salvation Army of Kirksville.
The Knox County Salvation Army and local churches are
working to help the displaced family who lost everything. Anyone wishing to
make a donation can do so by dropping it off or sending it to the United
Methodist Church in Edina.
“The stuff we lost is all replaceable.” Said Ormon. “We’re
just glad everyone got out okay.”
