Fire engulfed a home in Warrenton Wednesday night, destroying much of the interior structure and burning down most of the roof.The residence at the corner of Oak Wood Lane and Hawthorn Hills Drive is a total loss, said Fire Chief Mike Owenby. No one was home at the time of the fire.The homeowners being away meant they weren’t at risk, but there was no way to notice the fire until it had burned through to the outside of the house, Owenby said.Initial reports came around 6:20 p.m. from people near Walmart and Aldi who could see signs of the fire. Owenby said it took responders several minutes to get an exact location.When firefighters arrived at the scene, the fire had already spread to half the building and was burning from the roof.“You had flames 30 or 40 feet in the air,” Owenby said. The fire was so hot, he said a metal support beam inside had lost its shape and bent down to touch the ground at both ends. It took 45 minutes to control the blaze, and hours more to extinguish it completely.Crews from Wright City, Marthasville and Wentzville also arrived to help fight the fire.Firefighters believe the fire started in the basement garage, but they haven’t been able to look for an exact source because the building isn’t stable.“Unfortunately the structure is in a condition right now where it’s not safe to go inside and do any sort of investigation. There’s nothing holding the exterior walls up at this point,” Owenby explained. Although the brick exterior is still standing, he said it is showing signs of possible collapse.He added that the family of four who lived in the home had actually been packing and preparing to move out and sell their house. Now, they’ve lost everything that was inside, including a car in the garage.Firefighters were worried the flames might spread to a home next door because of dry leaves on the ground. To contain it, crews pumped huge amounts of water on the fire from outside — thousands of gallons per minute.“You’ve got to put enough water on it to overcome the massive amount of heat coming off the fire,” Owenby said. That was especially true because of how developed this fire was, he said.Firefighters spent six hours at the house monitoring and putting out residual fires. They couldn’t go inside to find and eliminate hidden embers because it is too dangerous to enter the damaged structure, Owenby said.That meant crews had to continue putting down water from outside until they were sure no pockets of flame would rekindle. The last firefighters didn’t leave until after midnight.

Firefighters battle a blaze that engulfed a home in Warrenton Wednesday night. The fire was so hot inside the house at Oak Wood Lane and Hawthorn Hills that a metal support beam inside was bent completely out of shape. Submitted photo.

The exterior walls of a home that caught fire Wednesday night remain standing after much of the interior structure burned. Fire Chief Mike Owenby said the owners had been preparing to sell the house and move out. Record photo/Adam Rollins.