A fire destroyed a 66-year-old man’s house in St. Paul and everything in it, including the TVs, but his cable service? He couldn’t get it canceled, at first.

Jimmy Ware lost all his possessions in the wind-whipped fire in St. Paul’s North End on April 1. Since then, his daughter said, she had been calling Comcast but was unable to cut off his service until Tuesday, when the company did so and issued an apology.

Another family that lost its house in the fire said they canceled their service easily.

But when Jessica Schmidt had called Comcast for her father, customer service representatives asked for Ware’s account number, saying they needed that to cancel his cable.

“Gone in the fire,” Schmidt told them. Ware got on the line and provided the last four digits of his Social Security number, which Comcast told him was still not enough.

Schmidt grew increasingly frustrated because she wanted to focus on helping her father with more serious matters, such as where as he’s going to live or how he’s going to rebuild his life. The retired trucker had no homeowners’ insurance.

“I’ve said to Comcast, ‘Here’s your choice, disconnect the service or send someone out to fix the cable, because it’s not working,’ ” Schmidt said. “The (Comcast) guy said, ‘That doesn’t make sense, because the house burned down.’ I said, ‘Exactly, shut the service off.’ ”

After Schmidt said she called Comcast four or five times, she heard from the company’s corporate office Tuesday. A representative said the matter hadn’t been handled properly, that Ware’s cable service had been canceled — backdated to the fire — and he wouldn’t be charged for the cable equipment, Schmidt said.

Comcast spokeswoman Mary Beth Schubert said in a statement Tuesday: “We understand that this is a difficult time for Mr. Ware and apologize for the inconvenience. Comcast has safeguards in place to protect the privacy of our customers, including not allowing unauthorized users to make changes to a customer’s account.

“We do provide the option for customers to designate others, such as family members, to make authorized account changes and verifying an account can normally be done either over the phone or in person with a driver’s license,” the statement continued. “We will continue to stay in contact with Mr. Ware to make certain the issue has been resolved to his satisfaction.”

A family affected by last week’s fire in St. Paul reported a better experience with Comcast. The home next to Ware’s, where Ngae Lay and Ta Pay Pay lived with their eight children, was also destroyed by the blaze on Front Avenue, near Western Avenue.

A downed power line ignited dried vegetation, and the flames, fanned by high winds, spread to the houses.

Barb Lawrence-Windholz, a friend of Ngae Lay and Ta Pay Pay, said she brought a family member of the family to Comcast’s Highland Park office in the days after the fire. She believes a representative accessed the family’s cable account through their home phone number and name.

“They were wonderful,” Lawrence-Windholz said. “They helped me right away to cancel it.”

Ware, who grew up in the house that burned down, is now staying with a friend, his daughter said. He’ll likely have to move in with Schmidt until he can find a permanent residence.

Tad Vezner contributed to this report.

HOW TO HELP

Fundraising websites have been set up for people who lost their homes and possessions in the fire. Ngae Lay and Ta Pay Pay’s is at startoverfund.com. Jimmy Ware’s is at gofundme.com/jwarefirerecovery.

Two St. Paul fundraisers are planned for Ware. Hoovers Pub at 755 Jackson St. will host one from 1 to 6 p.m. May 16, and Tin Cup’s at 1220 Rice St. will host one from 1 to 6 p.m. June 20.