The second house fire in 24 hours left Jim and Georgia Underdahl homeless Monday night.

Tuesday, January 18, 2000

The second house fire in 24 hours left Jim and Georgia Underdahl homeless Monday night.

A passer-by, George G. Thomas, saw smoke and flames at the Underdahl home at 1011 Third Ave. NW at 11:08 p.m. Monday while he was walking the neighborhood.

Two Austin Police Department officers, patrolman David McKichan and community service officer Ernesto Cantu, were first on the scene and escorted the couple from their home.

When Austin Fire Department firefighters arrived, the house was "aglow" with flames, according to Fire Chief Dan Wilson.

Also rescued were five cats and a dog, who, like their owners, escaped injury.

Today, insurance company and state fire marshal investigators are inspecting the rubble. According to the fire chief, the house will have to be torn down.

Wilson credited the alertness of Thomas, plus the quick actions of officers McKichan and Cantu with saving the Underdahls’ lives.

Earlier Monday, Jim Underdahl, a barber, was cooking fish in the kitchen, when smoke from the frying fish caused a smoke alarm to sound. Underdahl dismantled the smoke alarm and went back to cooking fish.

On Monday night, while the couple slept and the fire erupted, the smoke alarm was useless.

The Underdahls are staying at Days Inn in Austin, where Terry and Rhonda Jarrett are being temporarily housed by the Mower County chapter of the American Red Cross. The Jarretts suffered a house fire late Sunday evening.

Both the Jarretts’ and the Underdahls’ homes were insured.