By Dan Colton
for The Beacon

Update Monday 7/27: A GoFundMe page has been established to help provide financial support for the family that lost their home in the fire.

Beacon photo by Dan Colton

A fire tore through a home north of Plymouth at N6192 Riverview Road early Friday afternoon and appeared to fully engulf the house as firefighters arrived on-scene.

Jesse Schwarten, 21, lived at the residence with four siblings and his mother. He was in the home’s upper level with his two brothers when he noticed smoke around 12:50 p.m. The three brothers managed to escape with a dog as flames rapidly spread, but they were unable to locate the family’s second dog at the time. The second dog was later found deceased.

Nobody else was inside at the time, Schwarten said, and nobody was injured.

Schwarten said the fire escalated quickly. Responders were called, but in the minutes before their arrival, he said flames expanded out from an attached garage shed to the rest of the house.

The home, surrounded by trees, billowed black smoke high into the sky. Flames leapt from windows and from the structure’s collapsed roof. Explosions and collapsing walls could be heard, and the building appeared to be a complete loss.

Schwarten said he lived there for about 17 years.

“This is home,” Schwarten said. “This is our home.”

Multiple agencies responded to the fire, including the Plymouth Fire Department, Elkhart Lake Fire Department, Town of Sheboygan Falls Fire Department, Cascade Fire Department, Greenbush Fire Department, Cascade First Responders, Waldo Fire Department, Johnsonville Fire Department, Oostburg Fire Department, New Holstein Fire Department, Random Lake Fire Department, Cedar Grove Fire Department, City of Sheboygan Falls Fire Department, Plymouth Police Department, Sheboygan County Sheriff’s Department and the Orange Cross Ambulance.

The Sheboygan County Sheriff’s Department said the cause of the fire is under investigation.

A fire investigation unit was called in to inspect the scene.