Firefighters were able to salvage some valuables as they fought to contain a house fire Friday at 77 Wallace Lane in Clinton.
The fire originated from a lawn mower in the garage and managed to spread halfway across the living space and up into the attic of the house. The cause has yet to be determined.
Clinton Fire Department was the primary department on scene. Firefighters reached the residence at 2:09 p.m. about seven minutes after the initial dispatch at 2:02 p.m. Upon arrival, there was heavy fire showing from the garage area.
As the fire grew, Clinton received assistance from other units, with the intent to save as much property as they could.
The only occupant home that day was the mother of Chuck Spell II. Spell, a well-known member of the community, was down the street at his own home when he noticed the fire and called it in. Spell was able to make sure that his mother got out of the house safely before fire departments had arrived on scene. He was also the one who notified 911 of the fire. Charles Spell, the homeowner, was not present at the time the fire started.
No one was reportedly injured.
The fire was contained at 3:46 p.m., authorities said.
“They had to work at it pretty hard in the attic. As the fire progressed, they had more departments called in,” said Deputy Fire Marshal Joshua Deaver.
A total of 10 fire departments were paged out to the home before the fire was completely out.
Nine departments were called in to lend a hand, including Salemburg, Herring, Halls, Taylors Bridge, Roseboro, Vann Crossroads, Turkey, Autryville and Warsaw. Sampson EMS arrived on scene to help as well.
Departments had to make multiple interior fire attacks to access the attic and get water on the fire. Deaver said the structure has heat, smoke and water damage. The garage collapsed on one side, but the outer shell of the house still remains. The ceiling was brought down by firefighters in order to access the fire in the attic.
Deaver noted that a great deal of manpower went into putting out the fire.
Every time a firefighter ran low on oxygen supplied from their air packs, they had to step out and report to rehab set up by Sampson EMS. At rehab, firefighters were given water to hydrate and had their vitals checked out. EMS personnel checked blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate and the oxygen saturation of each fire fighter. They essentially had medical screenings to determine if they needed to rest or if they were fit to to go back and fight more fire within the structure.
The scene was cleared at 6:01 p.m. after fire personnel determined that all embers were out and there was no chance for the structure to reignite.
The structure may still be standing, but it was deemed unsafe to enter and not inhabitable.