No one was hurt in a fire that destroyed a Plattsmouth apartment house Monday morning.

Plattsmouth and Murray Fire and Rescue units were called to 7th Avenue and 1st Street around midnight and found that the roof had already collapsed into the first floor.

As firefighters later sifted through smoldering embers and shoveled the remnants of the house, they knew this fire could have been worse.

"It's a total loss, there's nothing left inside and very little will be salvaged on the property," said Brad Sloup with the Nebraska Fire Marshal’s Office.

Only one person lived in the house, in a basement apartment. She escaped without injury. “She's lucky, she's fortunate the fire was above her. It wasn't her part of the apartment," said Sloup.

The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.

The Plattsmouth Fire Department is made up entirely of volunteers, including Chief Mike Wilson, a second-generation volunteer following in his father footsteps. He's been a part of calls like this for 35 years.

"I was on my bicycle down there with him as well, been through it, through my Big Wheel all the way to my bicycle to the driving, all my life basically."

He's seen too many volunteers come and go. "At one time I had 45 lockers and I had every single one of them filled, but people come and go. We got a meeting coming up here next week with another two applications to bring on.”

Wilson describes the department as a brotherhood. "Just basically help one another at their home, outside the firehouse. Sometimes a guy needs his roof re-shingled. We pull together and help each other out."