ALTON – Working smoke detectors were credited with saving the lives of an Alton family whose two-story home burned to the ground early Tuesday morning.

Brent Moore, his wife and four small children escaped from the burning home in their pajamas, according to Lt. Myles Feero of the Alton Fire Department. The family now is staying with relatives, he said.

Moore fled after calling 911 at 1:48 a.m. and telling a dispatcher that his basement was on fire.

The home’s wood stove, located in the basement, is being looked at as a possible cause of the fire.

Moore told fire officials that Monday he had lit the wood stove for the first time in the 21/2 years he had owned the home.

“They were all asleep when they heard the smoke detector go off,” Feero said. “Three smoke detectors were going off when we arrived and there’s little doubt they saved that family.”

Though the family escaped safely, there was little firefighters could do to save the home, located just off Route 16.

Firefighters from six departments battled the blaze, but bitter cold temperatures wreaked havoc on the equipment.

When members of the Alton Fire Department first arrived they were able to get water onto the house and tried to make their way to the cellar, but the stairs already had burned away.

Firefighters continued to spray water on the blaze as it spread to the second story, but soon the pump froze and the firefighters were out of water.

“We went through our engine, Old Town’s engine, Hudson’s engine, Milford and Glenburn,” said Feero. “It was just too cold. We ended up fighting it with [portable] tanks and Hale pumps,” which are small, compact tanks used often in brush fires.

But the efforts of dozens of firefighters were not enough, given the frozen equipment, and firefighters watched as the structure collapsed.

“They lost everything they had,” said Feero. “They’ve got the pajamas they came out in.”

Feero said Moore had fire insurance on the home.

At about 7:45 p.m. the fire rekindled and eight Alton firefighters and a tanker truck returned to the scene. It took 20 minutes and 2,000 gallons of water to put out the second fire, Feero said.

Feero said that it is uncommon for a fire to start again. He explained that material that fell into the cellar could have acted as insulation for smoldering coals.

A 50-foot plume of smoke was still rising from the ashes as the firefighters refilled the tanker. A firefighter said some fires smoke for days after being put out.