Neighbors help homeless couple after fire guts house

MARSHFIELD - The home where Tom and Gwen Steensen raised their family is gone.

A fire late Sunday afternoon gutted the house at 301 W. Marathon St., where they had lived for 38 years.

"We're doing as well as can be expected," Tom Steensen said. The couple escaped with no injuries, and firefighters prevented the blaze from spreading to nearby homes and trees, he said

As fire trucks arrived on the scene, so did their neighbors. House by house, their neighbors gathered around the Steensens and encased them in hugs while they stood on a nearby lawn and watched the flames leap and the smoke billow from their home.

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Tom Steensen was grilling a turkey for Sunday dinner and had replaced the cover before retiring to the porch to relax, Steensen said Monday morning.

He saw clouds of smoke and hurried to the grill to find spirals of smoke rolling out of the garage.

As Steensen approached the garage he saw flames and immediately called the fire department.

Within minutes fire trucks were on the scene, he said.

"I'd like to commend the Marshfield fire department, they did a heck of a job," Steensen said.

At a time when the couple was emotionally distraught, the firefighters were compassionate and respectful, he said.

Steensen said he and his wife feel like they are in shock, yet are thankful no one was hurt.

"We're going to be OK," he said. "We have a great neighborhood." Multiple neighbors have offered to house the couple while other neighbors are preparing meals and bringing them clothes.

"We're very lucky; we don't need anything," Steensen said.

The neighborhood of longtime homeowners is tight-knit, said Bill Hocking, who has lived next door for 33 years.

On Monday morning Hocking helped Steensen carefully walk through parts of the gutted house to search for Steensen's wallet.

"There was so much water used on the fire that sheet rock is falling down," Hocking said. "We had to be really careful and couldn't look everywhere."

Although the wallet search was fruitless, they found the family computer, some clothes, shoes and a piece of jewelry, but the remainder of possessions looked badly charred, Hocking said.

Hocking called neighbors' response to the fire "a typical Marshfield, Wisconsin response."

"It's what we do when something happens to someone," he said. "We take care of each other."

None of the firefighters reported injuries, said Robert Haight, Marshfield Fire and Rescue Department chief.

The fire was reported at 4:47 p.m. Sunday and firefighters were on the scene by 4:50 p.m., Haight said.

The initial damage estimate is almost $300,000 and the cause of the fire is under investigation, he said.

Liz Welter: 715-898-7008, or liz.welter@gannettwisconsin.com; on Twitter @welter_liz.