Couple
loses home in fire
BY:
Jessica Singleton
For Billy
and Gladys Stewart, the unexpected has happened.
The morning of Nov. 6, the Stewarts’ wood stove began to
smoke. A few minutes later, the whole house was filled with flames.
According to Billy, his wife was in the basement and saw the wood
stove as it began to smoke. Assuming the problem was in the flue,
he tried to clear it.
“I tried to punch it out, but it wasn’t working,”
Billy said.
By this time the whole house was filled with smoke. Billy opened
the doors to bring in some fresh air, and Gladys went outside
to get away from the smoke. He went to the closet to try to get
some air to the chimney.
“The closet door felt warm, but I didn’t think about
it being a fire,” Billy said. “I just thought there
was a problem with the flue.”
When he opened the door, it exploded.
Billy ran outside and joined his wife. They used a cellphone and
called 911 to report the fire. About a minute after the first
explosion, the windows blew out.
The fire department believes the fire started when heat from the
chimney sparked in the attic.
“They were very lucky to make it out of there, Owenton Fire
Chief David Lilly said.
“The house is a total loss,” Billy said.
The Stewarts had a lot of help from friends and family after the
fire. They stayed with their son, D.J. Stewart, for a few nights.
They have bought a RV, where they will live until they are able
to rebuild.
The home, which is on Cull Road, was in the Owen County Fire Department
jurisdiction. Units from New Liberty, Jonesville, and Owenton
joined the Owen County department to help fight the blaze.
“It was Owen County territory, I just happened to be the
senior officer at the scene,” Lilly said.
Access to water can be a problem during some rural fires. The
fire department used eight fire trucks, carrying 1,000 gallons
of water each, to ensure a good supply of water. The lane to the
home was very narrow; they could only get one fire truck at a
time up to the house to deliver water.
“We were able to rotate the trucks and bring in enough water,”
Lilly said. “We would have one truck come up to the house
and drop off the water, while a second would wait at the bottom
of the lane.”
Despite the work of the firefighters, the home was lost.
“The wind was really blowing and the fire spread,”
Lilly said. “We were able to get control, but the house
is gutted.”
Lilly encourages everyone to check their smoke detectors. “They
can give you the early warning you need, especially if you are
on a different floor or asleep,” he said.
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