LACROSSE, Wis. – Fire destroyed a house and displaced a family with six children on the LaCrosse South End. No one was injured. Two dogs required veterinary care. The mother, Amanda Hayden, said she had been at the Salvation Army’s Christmas gift distribution site and arrived home to find the house engulfed. Her children — ages 16, 14, 11, 8, 5 and 2 — are without clothing. Their school books, backpacks, jackets and clothes re gone, she said. They went to a hotel for the night. It’s been a tragic year for the Haydens. The husband is hospitalized from a recent stroke. The fire was about 5 p.m. It was extinguished within five minutes by firefighters, but significan smoke damage already had occurred.
Structure intact. On Mormon Coulee Road near the Highway 35 and Highway 14 split.Fire’s cause not known immediately.