Fire has heavily damaged a second home in a month in one of Huntsville’s downtown historic districts. The latest fire was reported the night before Thanksgiving at the Calhoun Street home of Sean and Belle Kelly originally known as the Ware house.

The cause hasn’t been determined, but owner Belle Kelly said Friday that the fire is believed to have started in a ground floor dining room at the front of the house built in 1888. None of the four family members living there was at home.

Three pets were trapped inside when the fire started Wednesday night. Neighbors broke in, dragged the family’s two unconscious dogs, Miss Shug and Willard, outside and administered mouth-to-mouth resuscitation until they revived. The family cat succumbed to the smoke.

The fire’s cause isn’t known yet, Kelly said Friday as she worked with friends and family members in the front yard to clean personal items salvaged from inside. The family is OK, Kelly said, and it celebrated Thanksgiving together Thursday. “We may build back,” Kelly said.

This home in Huntsville's Old Town Historic District was seriously damaged in a fire reported on the night before Thanksgiving 2019.

Built originally as a single-family residence, the home had been subdivided into four apartments at one point in its history. It still had the original hard wood floors installed when it was built, Kelly said.

This is the second house fire within weeks in a large home in the downtown historic district, an occurrence so rare it has rattled residents of the area. A home a block away on Randolph Avenue burned Oct. 26. In both cases, the homeowners were away at the time the fire started.

Old Town is the only predominantly Victorian neighborhood remaining in the city and is known for its closely spaced and ornate Victorian homes.

(Updated 11/29 at 5 p.m. to correct the home’s location. It is in Huntsville’s Old Town historic district.)