Nine people are looking for a new place to live, after their historic Eau Claire home was destroyed by fire.

Eau Claire Fire Inspector Gary Puljas says the fire looks like it started on the first floor of the home.

Inspector Puljas says he was able to get into a couple rooms this morning to grab a few items that were damaged. But he says no one will be living in this building again.

"I lost. I lost everything. I just have, this is all I have," Kelsey, who lived in the building, said.

Kelsey teared up outside the place she's called home since June as she looked at the hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage left behind from the fast spreading fire Sunday night.

"I lived up in that corner right up there. It was a studio apartment,” she said.

Michael Brun says he lived on the first floor. He says he didn't believe how bad the fire was until he got home from work.

"The whole side of the house was just on fire. You don’t really believe it's happening or how bad it's gonna be until, you know, it really didn't stop," Brun said.

Everyone who lived in the historic home is accounted for, even the dog, Bubby.

"When my two other roommates arrived, the house wasn't on fire yet, just really smoky and they got him out in time," Brun said.

Now as Brun and Kelsey continue to deal with the shock of what happened, they say it's nice to know they have friends and family reaching out to help.

Scott Burkhardt with the Eau Claire Fire Department says with a house that old and with that type of construction it was hard for the fire fighters to find all of the flames Sunday night, but they got most of it out within about two hours.

Inspector Puljas says the next step is to have the insurance inspector out to take a look inside. As of right now, the cause of the fire is still under investigation.

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A historic home is in ruins after an overnight fire in Eau Claire.

It happened at 310 Lake Street at the Henry Van Hovenburg historic house around 10 p.m. Sunday.

When they got there, firefighters say they found smoke and flames billowing out of the house.

They say they tried to enter the house, but had to get out when it became unsafe. The Eau Claire Fire Department says the first and second floors eventually collapsed.

Battalion Chief, Rick Merryfield, says because of the bad roads, his crew had to get help from a number of other departments.

Firefighters say eight of the nine people who lived at the house have been located and are not hurt. But, that final person is unaccounted for. Crews say they don't even know if that person was at the house prior to the fire.

Merryfield says one firefighter did suffer minor burns.

The Red Cross is helping the victims.