By Patricia Bogumil
Editor
The good news for James Axtman is that he hadn’t yet moved out of his old house in Oak Creek before moving everything into his new house in Wind Lake.
On Tuesday morning, the kitchen and lower level areas of Axtman’s newly purchased property at 7612 E. Wind Lake Road, Town of Norway, suffered substantial damage in a fire that broke out shortly after 10 a.m.
Axtman said Tuesday afternoon that his insurance company representative had already been on scene. He said he didn’t yet know if he and his wife will end up needing housing assistance of some sort due to the fire.
“I don’t think so,” Axtman said, but added: “I’m not sure.”
Axtman said he’s been in the process of fixing up the Wind Lake house in preparation for the move-in.
Early Tuesday morning he had been doing some work on kitchen cabinets, Axtman said. He said was on his way back to Oak Creek from Wind Lake when he first learned about the fire at the new place.
Axtman said his understanding is that fire officials figure the blaze likely started in the kitchen garbage.
As of press time Wednesday, the fire officially remains under investigation by the Racine County Fire Investigation Task Force, and no cause of the fire had been officially set.
According to a media release from the Racine County Sheriff’s Office, the county communications center received a call of a possible house fire at the Wind Lake address at 10:12 a.m., Tuesday.
Sheriff’s deputies who arrived on scene reported heavy smoke coming from the home’s roof and windows. Deputies confirmed there were no occupants at home.
Fire departments from Wind Lake, Raymond, Rochester and Franklin responded and extinguished the fire.
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