A home, located on Hamilton Street in Nice, was destroyed in a fire on the afternoon of Wednesday, January 13, 2010. Photo by Tera DeVroede.

NICE – A lit cigarette is believed to have caused a fire that destroyed a home in Nice on Wednesday.

The fire was reported in the older doublewide modular home on Hamilton Street shortly before 3 p.m., according to Northshore Fire Protection District Chief Jim Robbins.

The fire was accessed from Pyle Road, off of Highway 20, according to reports from the scene.

A young woman who was renting the home fell asleep while smoking, Robbins said. The cigarette caught a Christmas tree in the home on fire.

The woman awoke to a lot of heat and smoke, and she tried to throw water on the fire to put it out, said Robbins. However, by that time, the fire had moved to smaller couch.

Robbins said the woman then escaped from the home uninjured.

The call initially came in as a smoke check in the area. Robbins said as he drove to Nice from Lucerne with one engine, he could see a pillar of black smoke.

By the time firefighters arrived, the fire already was well under way, he said.

Older modulars burn quickly, Robbins said. “All they need is about 10 minutes.”

The trailer had a secondary roof built over it. “That caused us a lot of problems with collapsing,” said Robbins.

Three engines and 12 personnel from Northshore Fire's Nice, Lucerne and Upper Lake stations responded, Robbins said. By 5 p.m. they had extinguished the fire and mopped up the scene.

Robbins said the lost property is valued at about $80,000.

“It's a total loss,” said Robbins. “She lost everything she had in there.”

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The fire gave off a column of black smoke that could be seen from a distance. Photo by Tera DeVroede.