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Altoona Home Destroyed By Fire Monday

    A home was lost to fire on Monday night, in the Pittman area of Altoona.  The fire, discovered at an unoccupied home around 7 p.m., was fully engulfed when responders from Lake County, Umatilla, and Eustis arrived at the scene at 19025 Ravenswood Road.
    The home, owned by the Jarrett family for decades, suffered catastrophic damage in the fire, the cause of which was not fully known by press time on Tuesday.  Lake County fire officials were back on the scene Tuesday morning to get a closer look at the home in hopes of determining a cause.
    The home’s residents arrived roughly 15 minutes after firefighters first arrived at the scene.
    Suppression of the blaze was hindered by the home’s location, on the north side of Lake  Mary, and accessible through a small, single-lane unpaved drive that is nearly 1/4 mile long.  Initial attempts to feed water to the fire via Ravenswood Road were abandoned, with a small tank trunk providing water until larger trucks could work their way in.  Ultimately, water was accessed from the lake to support firefighting efforts.