CORDRY-SWEETWATER — One family is without a home and another is without a shed after two separate fires over Thanksgiving weekend.
Fire broke out in a home in the 9700 block of Calvin Cemetery Road at about 6:20 p.m. Nov. 24, and it was a total loss, said Hamblen Township Volunteer Fire Department Chief Arlan Pierce.
The owner called dispatch to report his trailer was on fire. Pierce said the home was made up of three trailers put together.
The third trailer was completely engulfed when firefighters arrived and the second was partially on fire. Firefighters were able to gain entry through the first and second trailers to battle the blaze, Pierce said.
“(Once we made entry) then it was just to try and get as much water as we could to get it out when we could,” he said.
Pierce said the cause of the fire is undetermined, “but probably electrical.”
He said the homeowners had a sump pump and pipe lines to keep pipes warm in the winter, and they were plugged into an electrical box under the bathroom.
The owner told firefighters that the lights began to flicker and he went outside to flip a breaker.
The occupants then opened the bathroom door and smoked rolled out.
“They saw flames coming out of the register on the floor,” Pierce said. “When they opened the bathroom door, there it was.”
There were four people living in the home. The American Red Cross was called to the scene to assist them, Pierce said.
Pierce said no one was injured. Fire departments from Morgantown, Trafalgar, Nineveh, Cordry-Sweetwater and Fruitdale all assisted. Hamblen firefighters were on scene until nearly 11 p.m., according to the dispatch log.
Fourteen hours later, Hamblen Fire was on the scene of another fire in the 7300 block of Kiwi Drive. The call reporting a work shed/yard fire came in at 12:51 p.m., according to the dispatch log.
The fire was about 20 feet from a home, Pierce said.
A neighbor across the road had been burning leaves and the ashes blew across the road, catching leaves on fire and then the work shed, he said. A pile of wood near the shed also caught fire.
Pierce said fires caused by burning leaves are often unintentional. “They burn, it goes out and they leave. They don’t realize the wind blows that top layer of ash off because of those fresh leaves. Then it just burns and blows,” he said.
The work shed was lost in the fire, but firefighters were able to keep the fire from spreading to two nearby homes. The shed was near the property line of one home and the corner of it was about 15 feet from the roof of another home, he said.
No one was injured in that fire. Firefighters were on scene for about 40 minutes. Cordry-Sweetwater Volunteer Fire Department assisted.
