7-26-15
By: Rob Moore
(CLEVELAND) — Fire consumed a home north of Cleveland Monday night.
“White County Fire Department received a call of a residential fire at 628 Frank Black Road this afternoon,” said White County Public Safety Director David Murphy. “Upon first arrival of units, they found fire coming out the back of the house — heavy fire involvement.”
The location of the house, at the end of a single-lane paved driveway well off Asbestos Road, complicated the firefighting effort.
“Units had to shuttle water in and out,” Murphy said. The driveway is about a quarter of a mile off of the main road, so they had to shuttle from the closest hydrant which was another quarter of a mile down the road.”
The home and its contents were destroyed in the fire.
“The fire is a total loss,” Murphy said. “It’s still under investigation by our county fire investigator.”
Personnel from four agencies responded.
“We have approximately 30 personnel involved here,” Murphy said. “We had assistance from the City of Helen, the City of Cleveland and of course the county fire services responded.”
Additionally, Lee Arrendale State Prison Fire Department from Alto also responded with a firefighting team and White County Emergency Medical Services provided medical personnel on scene.
No one was hurt in the fire.
“The total number of occupants here was three,” Murphy said. “We had two individuals who have disabilities that lived here. Red Cross has been called in to assist them.”
As the fire continued to spread, public safety officials had to make a difficult call for the safety of firefighters.
“Because of the size of the structure and the limited water supply, the decision was made to back out into a defensive mode and let the fire burn itself out,” Murphy said.
Firefighters are expected to remain on scene for much of the night to monitor the fire and make sure it doesn’t spread to the surrounding area.
Such a large fire should have a state investigator do the inspections, due to size and possible insurance claim!!!!! County employees has the address wrong and all, so what you THINK?????
I know this person and have visted this home a few times. He didn’t need to file an insurance claim. He also lost all belongings of his 1st wife who’s now deseased. It was a beautiful home and a huge family loss.
bRING IN MORE help TO DO A BETTER JOB!!!