Platte community remembers family after deadly house fire

Caption + This frame from video provided by KELO-TV shows a home that burned down in a deadly fire south of Platte, S.D., Thursday, September 17, 2015.

It took three dozen firefighters seven hours to extinguish the blaze, authorities said.

The number earlier this season was worn by Michael Westerhuis, a sophomore on the football team who was one of six people to die in Thursday’s early-morning fire, which was 3 miles south of Platte. While officials have not formally released the names of the victims, the community has confirmed that the home belonged to the Scott and Nicole Westerhuis family and their four kids in third, fifth, eighth and tenth grades.

“Their family was inseparable”, family friend Kristina Sprik told the Argus Leader.

Thaler said the South Dakota Fire Marshal, South Dakota Department of Criminal Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Platte fire and police departments are assisting with the investigation into the blaze. Say your prayers know that they’re together in heaven’.

He said investigators are confident that all the victims have been recovered, but are awaiting autopsy results to positively identify them.

Platte is at town of about 1,200 people, about 115 miles west of Sioux Falls.

“Everyone in the community is affected by this because in many ways, we’re a big family”, Koops said.

Scott and Nicole Westerhuis worked for Mid-Central Educational Cooperative, a Platte-based education organization that provides speech, language and hearing services to several area school districts.

“Fans and mourners saw the team off with signs reading “#28 Strong”, and a caravan of people traveling to Kadoka for tonight’s game had #28 written on their auto windows.