The Carrollton Fire Department had a busy weekend, and it wasn’t due to the Greene County Fair.
Two separate house fires over the course of the weekend occurred in the City of Carrollton. The first call for a structure fire came at approximately 5PM on Saturday to 175 Sycamore. The single-story structure was smoking heavily near the rear of the home.
Fire Chief Tim Thaxton says the fire department’s response was somewhat delayed due to the split up of manpower: “It was called in as being fully involved. When we arrived on the scene, everything was contained in the back of the house in the kitchen. We had the Greenfield Fire Department come over and help us with the response. It just so happened that we had trucks headed for the Fair that was going on at the time, so we were somewhat limited on our response and what was coming was slightly delayed due to everybody trying to get to the trucks to get out to the address. We got in there and put a pretty good hit on the fire, and got everything knocked down quick. Greenfield arrived on the scene and we started on the overhaul. It pretty much gutted out the kitchen and there was a lot of smoke damage.”
Thaxton says the homeowner was on the way home from work, but the structure was occupied by a family dog. Firefighters were able to rescue the dog. One firefighter received a knee injury at the scene. With the fire contained to the kitchen, Thaxton believes that the origin of the fire was likely electrical in nature. Thaxton says due to the age of the balloon-frame, single-story structure and to the extent of the smoke damage, the home is likely a total loss.
The second report of a structure fire came at approximately 2:20 Sunday afternoon to a single-story ranch-style home at 127 Pine Street. Thaxton says despite having enough fire fighters to get to the fire, it was a more difficult fire to suppress: “It was up in an attic and it’s usually difficult to get to them. Normally, when we get an attic fire, it is almost always electrical. We had a garage area that was full of smoke, and it was pouring out of all the vents and the eave vents. The guys got in there pretty quick on that one but it was hard to see the fire. It was hard to get into. We started spraying water on it and the drywall ceilings all started to collapse. We had a really rough time.”
The Greenfield Fire Department once again assisted on the initial call. Thaxton says that they had to return to the Pine Street address at approximately 4:30 Monday morning due to a rekindle: “We had a couple of spots way down away from where the initial fire was at. It had gotten hot enough that there was a range hood over a stove and a flue pipe that went up. I guess that it got hot enough that it all started smouldering on stuff next to it. We ended up returning early in the morning on it. We had a pretty rough time getting in on that one and founding out where all of the fire had gotten to kindle. With the ceilings falling down on us, it kind of got precarious there for awhile.”
One firefighter was injured at the scene. Thaxton says that the firefighter inadvertently had a nail go into his hand while removing some debris. The Pine Street address was occupied at the initial time of the fire, and all occupants were able to get out safely. Thaxton says despite extensive smoke and water damage to the inside of the home, he believes that it is likely salvageable.