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Fire prompts evacuation of a Janesville elementary school

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Photo by Dan Lassiter

Janesville Firefighters prepare to enter a home on fire at 407 S. Ringold St. in Janesville. Several family pets were killed in the fire.

JANESVILLE — A fire left a family homeless and prompted the evacuation of Roosevelt Elementary School on Thursday.

Janesville firefighters were called to 407 S. Ringold St. at 2:36 p.m.

Rebecca Wetenkamp and her 5-year-old daughter had just returned home. They found the house filled with smoke and called 911, said Bill Ruchti, Janesville Fire Department shift commander.

Wetenkamp shared the rental home with her three children, who are 5, 6, and 8 years old, and Elmo “Junior” Brown.

Brown, who works as a maintenance man at the Janesville Salvation Army, was informed about the fire at work. Capts. Kirk and Carolyn Schuetz accompanied him to the scene.

No one was injured in the fire, but two dogs and a pet rabbit died.

The home, which is owned by Don Nevel of DeKalb, Ill., is about a block south of Roosevelt Elementary School, 316 S. Ringold.

The Red Cross was helping the building’s residents find a place to stay.

The fire alarm went off at Roosevelt at about 2:45 p.m., said school principal Stacy Kelley. School officials think smoke from the fire, which was quite heavy, drifted toward the school and set off the building’s alarms.

After determining that the school was safe, students were allowed to re-enter the school.

District and school staff set up alternative pick-up sites out of the way of the emergency vehicles, and Janesville police redirected traffic, Kelley said.

District officials also used their automated mass phone messaging system to let parents know what was happening.

Officials estimate the damage to the structure and contents at $20,000. Heavy smoke damage made the home uninhabitable, Ruchti said.

The fire started in a container in a kitchen cabinet, but its exact cause is unknown, Ruchti added.