The White Hall Fire Department was able to save a single-story home from burning to the ground on Friday afternoon.
White Hall Fire Chief Cale Hoesman says that the home, located at 233 East Lincoln Street, had really began to smoke shortly after it was called in by neighbors: “We got called about 2:45PM Friday. One of our firemen actually lives across the street. As he heard the page, he called on the radio that at that point there was smoke coming out from all throughout the residence and he could also see flames coming out of a window.”
Hoesman says that the fire department was on scene until approximately 7PM. The structure of the home remains sound, according to Hoesman, but contents and the interior received smoke and water damage. The Roodhouse and Carrollton Fire Departments provided mutual aid.
Hoesman says a preliminary investigation revealed that the origin of the fire was in a bedroom at the foot of a bed, which was completely burned. Hoesman says that the fire remains under investigation: “Right now, we have it deemed as undetermined. It was in the bedroom at the foot of the bed as the point of origin. We did call in the State Fire Marshal’s Office to assist us in the investigation. We could find a point of origin, but we were having trouble locating a cause of origin so that’s why we called them in – just for due diligence to make sure that everything was done and deemed correctly.”
Hoesman says the preliminary investigation didn’t show any possible signs of arson, but arson has not been ruled out at this time in the investigation. No injuries were reported in the incident.