A fire tore through a house in Katonah Wednesday and the extreme heat made fighting the flames even harder.

Aldo Palmerini says he was sleeping upstairs with his wife in the home he built 30 years ago on Cherry Street when his daughter woke him after midnight saying she smelled something in the garage. Palmerini says when he opened the garage flames were everywhere.

Katonah firefighters responded to the scene and called in mutual aid from Bedford Hills and Goldens Bridge. It took firefighters more than an hour to put out the fire they say started in the garage.

Palmerini?s son says the loss is even greater since his dad is a carpenter and did much of the work inside the house as well. Palmerini says he plans to rebuild. The cause of the fire is under investigation.