By Brandi Makuski

Six people have been displaced after a Tuesday night fire on College Avenue.

Metro crews were called to a two-story home on the 1600 block of College shortly after 9 PM on Nov. 22 — “just before it started snowing”, according to SPFD Chief Bob Finn.

When crews arrived, smoke was billowing from the house, Finn added, but none of the six residents were home.

SPFD Capt. Jodi Baganz talks with residents Jacob Kocken and Rob Strauss, both students at UWSP. (City Times photo)

Stevens Point police blocked off the entire block of College Ave., while EMS stationed a mobile command center down the street. Crews from Stevens Point, Plover and Hull were on the scene for more than two hours in the sleet and snow.

“When we go inside, there was fire inside the wall,” Finn said, adding flames were visible on the first and second floor, and travelling from the attic via a void space. “The guys made a great stop, they truly did. But there’s extensive damage.”

Two of the home’s tenants, Jacob Kocken, 22, a senior at UW-Stevens Point, and his roommate, 21-year-old Rob Strauss, watched crews work from across the street. Both said they felt helpless as they watched events unfold.

Kocken said he and Strauss were in class at the time the fire started.

“When we all got home we saw the trucks already here,” Kocken said. “So nobody was home at the time it started.”

Finn said the cause of the fire is still under investigation.