CORDRY-SWEETWATER — A home on Cordry Drive was lost to a flue fire Friday night.
One firefighter was on his way to the fire station when he saw the flames; the other lived down the road and went directly to the scene in the 7600 block, Cordry-Sweetwater Fire Chief Mike Leavitt said.
The fire was originally dispatched as occurring in the chimney, but by the time the firefighters arrived, the fire had spread to the roof and the rest of the home.
The second story was a loss. Firefighters were able to stop the fire from entering the finished basement, but it sustained heavy water damage, Leavitt said.
One woman was living in the home and another person had been staying with her at the time of the fire. The two were alerted by a smoke detector. They grabbed one dog and left the home.
Two dogs that were in crates on the stairway leading to the upstairs were found deceased in the home, Leavitt said.
Firefighters faced challenges due to the amount of belongings in the home. The “fuel load was very high,” Leavitt said. Firefighters had to go through an upstairs window to fight the fire on the second floor due to items blocking the stairway.
Another challenge firefighters faced was the home being 1,000 feet from the road, then another 400 feet from a water hydrant. Cordry-Sweetwater Fire and the Nineveh Fire Department worked together to run a long supply line to get water. Hamblen Township Volunteer Fire Department also assisted.
“The road was so narrow, getting down in there was very difficult even to get the two engines we had down there. That was problematic. Once we got that all established, we had plenty of water flowing and it worked fine,” Leavitt said.
Firefighters were on scene from 10:30 p.m. until 6 a.m. the next day.
“The big thing was we worked really hard at not having a rekindle because of the fuel load in there. We were really concerned about it rekindling,” Leavitt said.
“Going back to a rekindle would have been a lot of work to get water supply established again.”
The resident is staying with a relative, Leavitt said.
If anyone wishes to send monetary donations to the homeowner, email reporter Suzannah Couch at [email protected] to receive information about her post office box.
