Ashley Hunter
ECB Publishing, Inc.
The home of a local man has been declared a complete loss after a fire on Thursday night burned it to the ground.
During the morning of Friday, May 29, firefighters with the Jefferson County Fire Rescue (JCFR) were dispatched to a Greenville home, just inside the Jefferson County line on Bright Proctor Road. Jefferson County 911 Dispatchers told the firefighters that a man had called 911 to report that his neighbor's house had burned down overnight.
When firefighters arrived at the scene, they found the rubble of a home that had already been burned.
Deputies from the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office (JCSO) also responded, as the resident's vehicle was parked in the yard, which caused concerns that the resident had been in the home when it burned. Deputies were able to find and make contact with the home's resident, Derrick Alexander, who told them that he had been cooking late Thursday evening when he had “stepped away from the kitchen for just a minute.”
While he was away from the kitchen, a fire started above the stove.
Alexander said that he then went outside to grab a gardening hose from the yard in an attempt to extinguish the fire on his own. When he realized he would not be able to put the fire out on his own, Alexander said he headed over to his neighbor's house to ask for help.
According to Alexander's report to Fire Chief Derrick Burrus, no one answered the door at his neighbor's home and he realized he'd left his own phone and truck keys inside his now-burning residence, meaning Alexander had no way to contact anyone else for help or drive away from the scene.
Because of this, the fire went unnoticed and unreported until the neighbor drove by Alexander's house Friday morning and called 911.
The home, a 600-square feet concrete structure, was deemed a complete loss, with an estimated $60,000 in property damage and $30,000 in damages to the home's contents.
While the fire was contained primarily to Alexander's home, his vehicle had been parked near the house and also sustained heat damage to the driver's side.
After completing an investigation in the home, firefighters were able to determine that the fire had indeed started in the kitchen. The scene was released to the resident and American Red Cross was contacted by Jefferson County Emergency Management to provide further assistance.