Vicksburg firefighters battle a blaze in a wood-framed house at 1404 Main St. Wednesday afternoon. (The Vicksburg Post/PAT SHANNAHAN)

Smoke filled the streets of downtown Vicksburg Wednesday afternoon as firefighters battled a blaze on Main Street.

The wood-frame house at 1404 Main St. began burning around 3 p.m. and left a city couple homeless in only minutes as the fire quickly covered the rear of the home.

“Everything I own was in that house,” Bruce Edwards said.

Edwards and his wife, Janice Edwards, stood by and watched from a porch across the street as firefighters struggled to keep the flames contained.

“This is an older wood-frame house, and we didn’t want the fire to jump to another house,” Fire Chief Kevin Westbrook said.

After seeing the smoke bellowing out of every window and door of the home, Janice Edwards was taken to Vicksburg Medical Center were she was treated and released. No one was in the house at the time of the fire, and no injuries were reported.

Westbrook said the cause of the fire remained under investigation.

“The back of the house is pretty much destroyed and the front has a lot of smoke and water damage,” he said.

Oscar Barnes, executive director of Vicksburg Red Cross, said is agency would offer help to the Edwardses.

“If they don’t have a place to stay we will get them a hotel room for a few days and some clothes and we can put them in touch with other agencies,” Barnes said.