Only one week before Christmas and a Monson family is out in the cold after a fire destroyed their home. One of family members was left badly burned while trying to escape.

It was so cold the water turned to ice as firefighters sprayed the Monson home on Wales Road. The fire burned for hours after it started.

The 911 call came in shortly after 8:45 this morning.

When firefighters arrived, the top floor of the home was engulfed in flames.

The people inside, Michelle Beatty and 49 year old William Visneau barely made it out.

Fire Chief George Robichaud said, "Upon arrival there were already two occupants outside of the building on the driveway. The male occupants had severe burns over most of his body."

Lisa Mill lives next door and said, "I saw the ambulance and I saw them take him away. We heard the bell and I saw the fire truck in front of the house and then we looked up and saw the smoke. There were flames coming out the bottom and back. It was an inferno. It was huge."

Fire officials say fighting a fire in frigid temps is always a challenge.

Chief Robichaud said, "Well, it's difficult. We certainly have the weather factor. But also in a house of this age with a bloom construction, the fire gets into the walls and into those hiding places and so forth. And without being able to make entry into the building because of the full involvement of the fire it makes it difficult when you're doing an exterior attack."

At this point the cause of the fire is still under investigation. But, Beatty told fire officials he put clothes in the dryer shortly before the fire broke out.

Mill said, "I did hear a couple booms and bangs and I don't know if that's form the furnace, appliances. I don't know, it could be anything that started it."

The home was a total loss. The Pioneer Valley Red Cross is working with the fire victims to get them some temporary housing.