GRANT PARK -- Fire departments from nearly a dozen communities responded Sunday to a fire that completely destroyed a house in rural Grant Park.

The home of Jeff Ritter, 42, of 12443 E. 11750N Road, was a charred shell early in the afternoon when firefighters extinguished the final hot spots of the blaze. Ritter, who lived alone in the residence, was not home when the fire started, but was on the scene later as firefighters put out the blaze.

Investigators think the fire originated on the ground floor and the cause could have been electrical, said Grant Park Fire Chief Richard Shronts.

"In the preliminary investigation, the investigators thought it could possibly be related to a power strip," Shronts said. "We're going to wait until the insurance company gets their investigators out there to say for sure."

The initial call to the fire came in at 10:54 a.m. By the time the first crew arrived, the house was almost entirely engulfed in flames, Shronts said.

"When we got there, the whole sky was black -- it was really well involved," he said. "We got a good stop on it, but it takes a while to get it entirely put out. No one got hurt, that's the important thing."

Shronts said the house appeared to have been built in the 19th century, and its solid construction hindered the firefight in multiple ways.

Because the wood used to build houses during that time period was thicker, the fire burned hotter, Shronts said, and the quality of the insulation kept nearly all the heat inside the residence during the initial stages of the blaze.

"The bad thing about a house like that is that it can burn for an hour or an hour and a half before anybody sees it," Shronts said. "This fire had probably been burning for at least an hour before we got the initial call."

Aside from Grant Park, fire trucks from Aroma Park, Beecher, Bourbonnais, Crete, Kankakee, Manteno, Momence, Peotone and St. Anne were at the scene. An ambulance from Riverside Medical Center was also there.

As is customary for fires as devastating as the one to Ritter's home, Shronts said Ritter was offered to be put into contact with the American Red Cross and The Salvation Army for assistance. Ritter, though visibly distraught by the ordeal, declined the assistance.

"He seemed pretty shook up about the whole thing," Shronts said.