WESTERLO — Although their presents and a pet snake were saved, a fire at a Westerlo home on 6451 Route 32 two days before Christmas has left a family without a home.

Westerlo Volunteer Fire Company responded on Dec. 23 at 9:50 a.m. to multiple 911 calls, said Chief Kevin Flensted. The fire couldn’t have been burning very long, he explained, because it was a modular type home that could have quickly burned down. Only half the home was damaged, mostly in one room.

It took 30 minutes to put out the fire, said Flensted, followed by an inspection of the building. It also took very little water to douse the flames, and cold weather wasn’t an issue.

“We got lucky that day,” said Flensted. “It was actually about 40 degrees.”

Greenville and Coeymans Hollow fire departments were used for mutual aid, said Flensted. Berne and East Berne fire departments were on standby.

According to Albany County assessment rolls, the house is owned by Dorothy Bishop.

Although no one was home, the contents of the one bedroom were lost, but the fire department did save the family pets: a dog, a cat, and a snake, said Flensted.

“We were able to move the Christmas presents,” he said, which had been in the living room.

Flensted described the cause of the fire. He said the owner of the home had set the house’s wood stove to burn throughout the day before leaving. The fire started in the ceramic chimney thimble, located where the inside section of the chimney meets the outside section. The outer section of the chimney ran along a wall of the bedroom that caught fire.

The bedroom next to the chimney was heavily damaged, with an adjacent nursery and a bathroom sustaining water and smoke damage. A finished basement was also damaged by water.

On the other side of the house, where a kitchen, living room, and another bedroom were located, there was little damage, but the house is uninhabitable currently due to damage to the building’s wiring.

“You have to completely redo the electric,” said Flensted, who added that this could mean salvaging the home or knocking it down.

A fund has been set up to help the family at the National Bank of Coxsackie. Most of the efforts to help the family have been turned over to the Greenville Volunteer Fire Company, said Flensted. One of its members, Clif Powell, is related to the family. He did not respond to a phone call from The Enterprise.