A Saturday evening fire ripped through a home in the 500 block of Willard Street in Wataga.
More than 20 firefighters and at least five units from the Oneida-Wataga Fire Department and surrounding departments battled the blaze for more than an hour. The fire started at approximately 6:20 p.m. and was under control by 7:40 p.m.
It destroyed the garage and part of the newly constructed brick residence which belongs to Dan Mahnesmith and Robin Mahnesmith-Miller. The family moved in late last year or early 2009, according to neighbors.
Mahnesmith-Miller is the mother of Daniel B. Miller Jr., the 2001 ROWVA High School graduate killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq in January 2007. Miller is buried in Wataga Cemetery, which is a block away from the Mahnesmith residence.
“They had just moved in. They built the home because Daniel’s grave is so close,” said close family friend Cathy Hootman.
For more of this story, see the printed edition of the Oct. 1 Galva News.
