Fire destroys home on Norwood Avenue

What started out to be a great night for the Livengood family turned tragic Saturday night — as a fire destroyed their Norwood Avenue home.Thankfully, nobody was injured.Eric and Maria Livengood enjoyed a big night Saturday watching the St. Paul Flyers defeat South Central 49-6 in a Firelands Conference football game. Their youngest son, Lars Livengood, is a senior standout on the team, while his sister, Emma, is a junior cheerleader who was also on the homecoming court.But things took a turn for the worse sometime after midnight when Maria smelled smoke. Everybody got out of the house, but before the fire department could get there, flames were shooting through the roof.Eric Livengood and acting Norwalk Fire Chief Rick Perry were standing out in front of the house this morning assessing the fire, but there wasn't a whole lot to be said."I'm just numb," Livengood said."It doesn't look bad from the outside," Perry said. "But there is a lot of damage inside."Perry said he believes the fire started somewhere in the attic. While much of the fire was contained to the top of the house, he said the smoke and water damaged most of the bottom half. He estimated the loss would be at least $100,000, but added that is not an official estimate.He said his men and somebody from the state fire marshal's office will investigate the fire to try to determine a cause.Livengood said he had a fire going in the fireplace, but has not had any issues in the past."I'm just glad everybody got out," Perry said. "I'm happy for their family and I'm happy my men were all safe. Those are tough fires to fight."Flames shoot out of the top of the Livengood residence on Norwood Avenue early this morning.Norwalk firefighters contain the house fire early this morning on Norwood Avenue.