Fire destroys family's home.

Byline: Kim Ring

The following correction was published Feb. 5, 2008:

Initial reports incorrectly indicated that the fire at 54 Daniels Road was at 48 Daniels Road, and that information was reported in yesterday's edition of the Telegram & Gazette.

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CHARLTON - A house at 48 Daniels Road (SEE CORRECTION) was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived last night; they could do little to save it.

"There was a large volume of fire," Chief Charles E. Cloutier Jr. said, adding that flames kept firefighters from entering the house. "It was an exterior attack."

He did not believe anyone was at home when the fire broke out. A neighbor reported the fire, he said.

About 40 firefighters from Charlton, Webster, Dudley, Leicester, Oxford and Southbridge went to the house, many arriving minutes into the Super Bowl game and spending hours dousing hot spots until long after the New England Patriots lost. Tanker trucks carried water from Bay Path Regional Vocational Technical High School to the blaze. There are no hydrants in Charlton, Chief Cloutier said.

Firefighters from East Brookfield were called in to stand by in the Charlton fire station.

The home is in a rural area of large residences, though it was difficult to tell what it looked like before the fire. The chief said he believes the house was also of substantial size.

Firefighters were challenged by icy conditions underfoot, and highway workers were out treating roads in the area as the temperature hovered near freezing. The house's steep driveway was ice-covered. Chief Cloutier said there had been no injuries as of about 9 p.m.

Records at the Worcester Registry of Deeds show the property is owned by John D. and Mary S. McGuigan.