A 911 call from a homeowner reported a chimney fire at his residence in the 9600 block of South River Road south of Moscow shortly before noon Monday.

The caller, Randy Kelly, along with his wife, were advised by Rush County Sheriff’s Department dispatcher Celia Nigh to vacate their home and await firefighters arrival.

The first responders from Anderson Township Volunteer Fire Department to arrive at 9604 South River Road found the home fully engulfed in flames and smoke and immediately requested that additional departments and manpower be dispatched to the scene.

“The home is fully engulfed at this time, we need additional manpower,” Steve McCorkle radioed after arriving on the scene.

Volunteers from Waldron and Saint Paul responded to the mutual aid call.

Fanned by a southwest wind, smoke was visible from as far away as Homer as additional firefighters began arriving.

“My wife and I were home when the fire broke out. We didn’t have heat in the house last night so we started a fire in the fire place. A furnace repairman just left a short while ago. I guess that it started in the chimney,” Kelly said as he and his wife stood outside and watched efforts to contain and extinguish the blaze.

“It is hard to watch a lifetime of memories burn away in a matter of minutes,” Kelly said.

Hampered by the lack of a nearby water supply, firefighters’ efforts were no match for the burning two-story brick-faced structure; efforts quickly turned from not only extinguishing the blaze but also keeping it from spreading to a nearby wooded area and recently combined cornfield that surrounded the home.

Although a swimming pool near the burning residence was full of water, the pool was right in the path of the wind-driven fire and was of no use to firefighters.

“I will not lose a truck just to get to that water,” ATVFD Fire Chief Nick White said when asked why the water seemingly at hand was not being used as fire department tanker after fire department tanker was sent to Milroy to reload with water.

Kelly and his wife were uninjured in the fire and no injuries were reported.

The home was completely destroyed.

Although under investigation, no official cause was given Monday as to a cause for the blaze.

Assisting at the scene were ATVFD, WVFD, SPVFD, the Rush County Sheriff’s Department, RushShelby Energy and RMH Ambulance.