Fire destroys home

Ashley Hunter
ECB Publishing, Inc.

On Wednesday, March 6, Jefferson County Fire Rescue (JCFR) received a call from the county's 911 dispatch informing first responders of a fire that was ablaze in a home located off East Washington Street.
After a complication in locating the address of the fire, crews from the JCFR were able to respond to the house fire.
The two-story home was found to be ablaze with smoke boiling out from the eaves.
Firefighters fought the fire from both within the burning home as well as from the outside.
The fire continued to struggle against their efforts and burned through parts of the house's roofing, causing the fire to spout out from the burned-open portions.
Volunteer firefighters from the Monticello and Lloyd Volunteer Fire Departments responded as additional backup, providing the extra manpower and water required to fight the flames.
According to the report issued by the JCFR, the responding firefighters aggressively attacked the fire and were able to keep it from spreading to the ground level first-floor of the home.
After firefighters had completely extinguished the fire, Duke Energy was called to disconnect power to the structure.
The JCFR report states that the fire began in the kitchen.
The home's resident informed firefighters that he had been frying fish for lunch and realized he did not have enough fish for his meal.
The resident claimed that he had left the stove turned on, with the pan of grease still placed on the stove, and had gone into the front yard to catch additional fish in a small pond located in front of the house.
The homeowner called 911 after realizing that a fire had ignited inside the house while he was fishing.
The JCFR report states that the house is a total loss due to the extensive fire damage sustained by the second-story portion of the home.
Approximately 6,000 gallons of water were required in order to completely extinguish the flames.
Dispatch informed firefighters of the fire at 12:03 p.m., the first wave of firefighters arrived on scene at 12:09 p.m., the flames were controlled at 12:30 p.m. and the last unit cleared the scene at 2 p.m.
Attending firefighters were: Austin Malloy, Mike Sacco, Jim Iten, Joe Woodson, Matthew LaMendola, Matthew Poston, Mike Long, Mac McKinnon, Zeff Fessenden, Lloyd Volunteer Fire Chief John Cooksey, JCFR Chief Derrick Burrus, and Monticello Volunteer Fire Chief Lester Lawrance.