A Hartford couple lost everything they own in an early morning house fire. Hartford Fire officials say they received the call just after 1:30 Thursday morning about the fire on East Summer Street that they say started in the basement. Officials say when firefighters arrived on scene they found heavy fire in the basement that extended up through the walls of the home. Firefighters were able to get the fire under control in about 45 minutes and left the scene around 6:00 a.m. They did, however, have to come back to check on hotspots. Chief Paul Stephans says what made this fire challenging was the fact that the first floor collapsed into the basement before their arrival on the scene. "There was no place to walk on so we had to find alternative means to get inside and get above the fire due to the construction and the amount of fire load," said Chief Stephans.