Three local fire departments battle fire near line in Ashe

No injuries were reported in an electrical fire in Laurel Springs which left a residence on Burnt Hill Road destroyed on Thursday morning. Jefferson Fire Department Chief Roger Miller said that, based on a conversation with the owner of the residence, Danny Lambert, one possible cause for the fire may have been Lambert's having left an electrical heater plugged in in the basement of the residence before leaving for a trip to a nearby store.

Upon returning, Miller added, Lambert found that his residence was on fire. Miller also said that he believed it was Lambert himself who reported the fire.

The Laurel Springs and Piney Creek volunteer fire departments and the Jefferson Fire Department were present at the scene of the fire. Miller said that his department was second to arrive, following Laurel Springs. Assistant Fire Chief Danny Brooks of the Laurel Springs Volunteer Fire Department said that a combined total of eight trucks from the three stations were brought to the scene of the fire, in response to a call received around 8:45.

These included three trucks each from Laurel Springs and Jefferson plus two from Piney Creek, according to Laurel Springs VFD Chief Hubert Wagoner. Wagoner added that a combined total of more than 20 firefighters from the three departments were present at the scene of the fire. The local fire personnel were at the scene until around 1 p.m. Brooks noted that the house had been completely engulfed, but that since no one had been there at the time, there had been no injuries.

Miller said the house was nearly destroyed by the time his department arrived on the scene of the fire, "On a scale of one to ten, I would give it a nine. It was just almost completely gone, and there wasn't anything we could save."

Miller noted that the homeowner was able to salvage a few items from the house before firefighters arrived on the scene.

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