Sheriff’s Office: 79-year-old was working in the basement

MANCHESTER — Authorities have confirmed a man died Monday afternoon in a house fire in Manchester.

The man, Edson Lebeck, 79, was working on a water heater in the basement of his home, 25886 708th Ave., when the blaze began, said Freeborn County Sheriff Kurt Freitag.

Dispatchers received a call shortly after 1 p.m. that smoke was coming from the house, and when Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived, the south side of the house was engulfed in flames.

Freitag said firefighters from multiple departments, including Manchester, Clarks Grove, Geneva, Hartland, Alden, Freeborn and Albert Lea Township, responded to the house, along with Gold Cross Ambulance crews, the State Fire Marshal’s Office, the Minnesota State Patrol and the Albert Lea Salvation Army.

The fire grew quickly, and the house was ultimately fully engulfed. Both the main and upper floors collapsed into the basement, the sheriff said.

At about 5:30 p.m., Freitag said an excavator was at the site pulling down the remainder of the walls and searching for Lebeck. His body was found shortly after 6 p.m.

“This is tragic,” Freitag said. “You have a guy, he’s retired, and this is an awful thing to have happen to anybody. The Sheriff’s Office does offer sympathies.”

Authorities stated Lebeck was going to install or repair a water heater in the basement. He had reportedly spoken with his son, who offered to hire someone to help, but Lebeck declined the offer. About a half hour later, his son received a phone call that his father’s house appeared to be on fire.

Frank Gjersvik, who has known Lebeck since the first grade, said he remembered playing “kitten ball” — or softball — with Lebeck. The two attended first through eighth grade together in Manchester before Lebeck went to Albert Lea for high school, and Gjersvik went to Freeborn. They graduated in 1953.

“He was one of the Manchester guys,” Gjersvik said, noting that Lebeck farmed as an adult.

He said the Lebeck family built the house that burned down, and it was the subject of many photographs and paintings.

“It was really a classical house,” he said.

The State Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating the cause of the fire.

Look to the Tribune for more information as it becomes available.