Photo by Rob Schmidt / St. Joseph News-Press / Purchase this photo

Onlookers show support for Erica Barton, center left, as she consoles her son Mason after a morning fire destroyed their home Friday at 6315 Grant St.

A mother and her two sons escaped with only the clothes on their backs as fire consumed their one-story frame home on the South Side Friday. No one was injured in the blaze.

The loss is estimated at $50,000 for the house and $50,000 for the contents, said Bob Blizzard, an inspector with the St. Joseph Fire Department. The cause of the fire is undetermined.

“I’d been folding clothes in the back room and saw a light,” said Erica Barton, who’s lived in the house at 6315 Grant St. for three years.

Mrs. Barton said she looked at the closet, saw flames, dropped the clothes, grabbed her two sons and fled in her stocking feet, with the fire pursuing.

“That fire exploded out of the closet,” said John Nelson, the battalion chief at the scene.

Dispatchers scrambled five engines to battle the blaze at 10:10 a.m. A third of the house was fully involved as units arrived on the scene to see flames shooting out of several windows.

The fire was moving rapidly through the house and reached temperatures in excess of 600 degrees, Mr. Nelson said.

Firefighters ran several main lines into and around the house in an effort to halt the fire. Mr. Nelson said he was concerned for the safety of firefighters because initially the flames were over their heads as they entered the home.

The screams from empty oxygen bottles could be heard above the rumbling noise from fire engine motors as firefighters exited the home about 15 minutes after arriving on the scene. Units remained on the scene for another hour as firefighters cut holes in the roof with axes and power saws and pulled down the ceiling, seeking hot spots.

The house and its contents are a total loss, Mr. Nelson said.

The Midland Empire chapter of the American Red Cross was called to the scene to provide assistance. The family plans to stay with a neighbor for a few days.

Marshall White can be reached

at marshall@npgco.com.