LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Fire crews were called out early Friday to battle a house fire in far east Jefferson County near the Spencer County line.
The fire started just before 4 a.m. on Routt Road, near Thurman Road.
Jeffersontown Fire Chief Sean Dreisbach tells WDRB that they initially thought there was a person still in the home and attempted to rescue him from the second floor. A burned out staircase stopped them in their tracks, and they later learned that the man is out of town.
"Firefighters, they kick into second gear when there is a possible rescue like this even with the amount of fire that was there," Dreisbach said. "But we had to consider the safety of the firefighters with the amount of fire that we had on the second floor and how long the fire had already been burning.
"It could have burned through structural members that could have caused a collapse, so we had to back out our firefighters at that time and go to defensive operations."
Kathy Degrass, who lives nearby, feared the worst when she saw the flame. She says she woke up after hearing what sounded like an explosion around 3:30 a.m. When she and her husband looked outside they saw "a big orange glow of fire" coming from the home.
"I cried -- I was already crying because I thought he was in the house," Degrass said. "It was such a helpless feeling. But I've never been so happy to hear somebody's voice in my life as I was when I heard him answer the telephone. And I said 'is this Brad?' And he said, 'yeah, what's the matter?' And I said 'your house is burning down, where are you?' And I said, 'thank God you're in Las Vegas.'"
Dreisbach says it took 27 firefighters from Jeffersontown, Middletown and Eastwood just over 30 minutes to get the fire under control.
Firefighters also rescued a dog that was sleeping in the garage.
There is significant water and fire damage to the house.
Fire and arson officials are investigating.
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