Two people in Gowanda are receiving help from the Red Cross and Seneca Nation Emergency Management after their home was destroyed by fire early Thursday morning.
Investigators say an electrical box on the back of the home sparked, causing the outer wall to ignite.
Flames spread up the wall to the roof, eventually working into a space between the roof and the ceiling about two to three feet wide. First Assistant Chief Duane Carry Moccasin of the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation Volunteer Fire Department says the area was about the size of a crawl space.
Flames were able to travel through that space from one end of the home to the other. Firefighters had to tear off the home's roof to get to the flames, leading them to declare it a total loss.
No one was hurt in the fire.
In all, at least nine different agencies worked together to extinguish the fire. Three more were on standby in case the fire continued to spread.
