PILLAGER - A family of three was displaced after a fire claimed their home Wednesday night.
The Pillager Fire Department was called to the house on the corner of River Street and Ironwood Avenue in Pillager at 5:58 p.m.
By 7:30 p.m., firefighters were still working to dwindle the flames as they kept on rekindling.
The cause of the fire was unknown Wednesday night, said Pillager fire chief Randy Lee. The flames kept resurging because the house was "packed with a lot of stuff," he said.
Ed Carlson, who lives in the house with his fiancee and adult son, thinks the fire could have been started by an electric heater or an ashtray.
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His fiancee, Rindi Dimsdale, saw the flames first in the couple's bedroom on the mattress. Carlson tried to flip the mattress over to kill the flames, but that only made the fire worse, he said.
That's when he told his family to get out.
Dimsdale left without shoes or socks; Carlson's son, without shoes.
Flames eventually spread throughout the home.
The family sat silently in a neighbor's kitchen as firefighters battled the flames. Other neighbors stopped by to offer them shoes, hats and coats.
"We're a little smokey but we're alright," Carlson said, his hands still shaking.
The couple is in the process of buying the trailer home, which has had several additions built on to it.
Carlson's 20-year-old son, Jay Carlson, had just moved in about two weeks ago.
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The American Red Cross is assisting the family.
