Fire destroys rural

New Ulm home

Becks weren't home at time of fire

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- A smelly sewage problem may have been a blessing in disguise for Marge and David Beck early Monday morning.

The Becks, who live a few miles west of town near Brown County State Aid Highway 27, were staying with their daughter-in-law in Lafayette when a fire destroyed their home.

The smell created by a sewage backup in their basement drove them out of their home last Saturday.

The Becks got a call at about 5 a.m. Monday from their daughter-in-law's father. He told them their home was on fire and asked if anybody was in it.

"Thank goodness we weren't there," Marge Beck said Monday at noon.

Moments earlier, New Ulm firefighters left the charred ruins of their home.

The Becks' antiques and family mementos are gone. A large wooden deck that surrounded the wood frame home, built in 1977, was mostly undamaged.

The dogs, horses, chickens and geese on the Becks' hobby farm were unharmed.

David Beck recently retired after working for 30 years at the Associated Milk Producers, Inc. plant in New Ulm.

"Thirty years of belongings are gone overnight," he said.

New Ulm Fire Chief Curt Curry said his department received the fire call at about 4:40 a.m.

New Ulm firefighting equipment at the scene included an engine, tanker truck and rescue squad vehicle. A tanker truck from the Sleepy Eye Fire Department provided assistance.

"Apparently the fire had been going for a while by the time we got there. It was very hot," Curry said.

The fire was out shortly after 6 a.m. The cause of the fire is under investigation by the State Fire Marshal's Office.