The fire, which was called in about 1:30 p.m. Monday, broke out in a home at 14710 158th St.

Jeff Theno, fire chief of the Fairmont fire department, said at the scene he didn’t think anyone was at home, and that both residents of the house were at work. Homeowners Joanne and Jerry Moehlman had not been contacted by the time most of the house had burned to the ground.

Theno said that the house’s wood-shingle roof helped spread the fire, adding that about “half the roof was involved” by the time he arrived on the scene. Theno estimated 25 firefighters battled the blaze, including firefighters from Bonner Springs, as well as Stranger, Reno, Fairmount and Sherman townships.

Pumper trucks from the departments took turns filling up a collapsible water tub for fire hoses to draw on.

The Fairmount and Sherman departments had been called in by Don Dowdall, a neighbor of the Moehlmans’. Dowdall said the fire was just “a puff of smoke” on the roof when he saw it as he drove by the house.