Five area fire departments battled a rural Gayville fire along Highway 50 late Friday night.
Gayville Fire Chief Josh Lauck says that a passerby noticed flames coming from the large house at the corner of Highway 50 and 454th Avenue, three miles east of Gayville, at 9:00 PM.
Lauck says upon arrival, Gayville crews found a quarter of the house already engulfed in flames with heavy smoke coming from the structure. The owners of the home were not present at the time of the fire. There were no injuries.
Lauck says due to the location of the property and nowhere to fill up water in a timely fashion, they called in assistance from the Volin, Vermillion, Yankton, and Wakonda fire departments.
Lauck says the home is a complete loss and the cause of the fire is unknown at this time.
Crews remained on scene for six hours. Gayville crews did mop up work Saturday morning on the structure.
