Fire destroyed a house in the 1400 block of North River Road, Cardinal, on Monday.

Mathews Fire Chief Ronnie Lewis said the fire was called in as a brush fire around 6:05 a.m. by someone from across the river, but when firefighters arrived, they found a large old two-story unoccupied farmhouse “in a ball of flames.”

The house couldn’t be saved, he said, so firefighters focused on protecting exposures and trying to prevent it from spreading. Lewis said the owner told him the house, which was used as a family vacation home, had contained a number of unique items, including antiques, that were all destroyed.

No cause for the fire had been determined as of Monday afternoon, and Lewis said it was still under investigation.

Around 15 or 16 Mathews firefighters responded to the fire with three engines and a brush truck, while Gloucester sent six firefighters with two engines and a tanker as mutual aid. Mathews Volunteer Rescue Squad sent an ambulance and a crew to stand by, as we...