VERSAILLES — A fire that destroyed a McCracken Pike house on Monday might have had an electrical cause, Woodford County Fire Chief Bennie Green said.
No one was injured in the fire, but the two-story brick house at Dufont Farm on the northwestern edge of Versailles was a total loss, Green said. The house is owned by John and Flora Platt, who were in Wisconsin, Green said.
Kelly Gunn, who was house-sitting, discovered the blaze. She and four daughters, ages 14, 13 and 7-year-old twins, were able to escape.
Gunn said that shortly before 4 a.m. Monday, she awoke to the smell of smoke. Then she heard the Platts' dog barking frantically downstairs. She went to check on the twins when she heard a sound. At first she thought someone was trying to break into the house, but then she realized the sound was coming from the attic. She discovered that the attic was on fire and called 911.
The Platts "are a dear family and friends," Gunn said. "We are just devastated."
Gunn said one of her daughters heard a pop when she turned on a light. Green said a state police fire investigator, who is on vacation this week, will go to the scene next week.
About 20 Woodford County firefighters fought the early-morning blaze until about noon Monday, Green said. He said firefighters had drained water from an in-ground pool next to the house. The Versailles Fire Department also brought a ladder truck to the scene to attack the fire on the roof.
Firefighters returned to the scene about 2 p.m. Monday to extinguish a hot spot. Only the house's chimneys and parts of its brick walls were left standing.
The house was once the home of Mary Andrews Goff, who died in 2005 at age 91. John Platt, a teacher at The Lexington School, is her grandson.
Records in the Woodford County property valuation administrator's office and county clerk's office did not give an age for the house, although Gunn said she thought it was about 150 years old. The main house and other buildings on Dufont Farm had been recognized by the Blue Grass Trust, a non-profit advocate for historic preservation, according to Herald-Leader files.
