A house fire broke out Thursday morning at 3900 Gallant St. in rural Colfax. At the time, there were four residents in the house. Larry Beals was one of those residents and escaped with his life. He said he is fortunate to be alive.

“One of my buddies went upstairs and told me there was smoke,” Beals said. “We tried to put it out. (The) smoke was filling the house pretty fast, so we got everybody out. Everybody got out fine.”

He suspected the fire started in the fireplace. Beals said he lived at the house all his life. He tried to put out the fire but soon realized it was too much to handle. He said he will most likely be living at his friends house in Des Moines.