The owner of the house that caught fire Wednesday evening was at the property this morning along with the Michigan State Police Fire Investigator looking for answers to why the structure caught fire and took one life.
Todd Alexander told Soo Leader that it was his 82-year-old mother-in-law who passed away in the fire.
She had been living with Alexander and his wife for a year.
"She had her own room and her own hospital bed," Alexander said.
Alexander was remodelling the center living room to make it into a master bedroom when he smelled smoke.
"I smelled smoke and went to the basement to the room underneath the kitchen and there were flames in it. The fire spread very fast," Alexander said.
He got his two children and wife outside then tried to go back inside to save his mother-in-law but was turned back by smoke and flames.
He then tried to break the bedroom window with patio blocks and grabbed a ladder from the garage.
"There was nothing we could do to put it out," explained Alexander.
A Cloverland Electric Cooperative employee was driving down H-40 and saw the smoke.
Even before firefighters arrived, lineman Jonah Sprague tried his best to help.
"I was coming home in my bucket truck and noticed smoke coming out of a house. I pulled over and the homeowner said he needed help and that their disabled mother-in-law was still in the house. I used both by truck's fire extinguishers but we were unable to get to her because of the smoke. I am sorry I couldn't do more. Rudyard is a close community and this kind of tragedy hits hard. My prayers are with the family," Sprague said.
Alexander appreciates the outpouring of care and concern from the community.
"That is one thing about the community is the support from the neighbors, the Red Cross, the schools, the Victim Services Unit, and the people where I work. It's a small community but we all put together when something like this happens," Alexander said.
Alexander's wife and two of their children who live there, 12 and 10 years old, were able to escape.
Several pets also perished in the fire.
The Chippewa County Sheriff's Office is handling the investigation.
