By PAUL LORENZ
paul.lorenz@mcleansborotimesleader.com
McLEANSBORO — Fire destroyed a home on one of the city’s busier thoroughfares Friday morning.
Fire department officials did not know how the fire started at the home of Brian Overturf, 405 W. Randolph St., Fire Chief Leroy Browning said Friday afternoon.
Smoke poured out from under the white frame home’s roof line and from the back of the house when firefighters began to arrive at the scene Friday morning. The fire department received the call about 8:30 a.m.
The fire apparently started in a bedroom on the northwest side of the home, Browning said.
No one was home at the time of the fire, the fire chief confirmed.
Police blocked off sections of West Randolph Street — Illinois Route 14 — as about a half dozen of the city’s volunteer firefighters battled the blaze.
The home was located in a primarily business location; immediately to the west of the house is an optometrist office, to the east a church.
Quentin Overturf, who lived in the house with his father, Brian, stood watching the fire, arms folded, from across the blocked-off highway, expressing concern about a family cat. He was in class at Hamilton County High School when he was notified of the fire and brought to the scene.
As of Friday afternoon, the fire was under investigation, Fire Department Capt. Jim Morris said.
It was the department’s seventh fire call of 2010, and the second structure fire, Morris said.
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