Meeksville Volunteer Fire Department responded to a fully involved house fire in the 200 block of County Road 7723 at approximately 9:30 a.m. Friday.

The house was a total loss, but Meeksville Fire Chief Louis Davis said no one was in the residence at the time of the fire.

“When we got here there was a live power line on the ground, so there wasn’t a whole lot we could do with a power line on the ground,” Davis said.

Firefighters were on scene for several hours in the morning and returned around 2 p.m. Friday, when the fire came back to life.

Davis said the likely cause was a large tree stump behind the property that the fire department had trouble extinguishing earlier that morning.

“We couldn’t get it out this morning and that’s what’s caused all this,” Davis said pointing to the woods behind the property, which were smoldering at the time.

He said forestry service officials were being called in to assist on Friday afternoon.