A century-old house, high winds and 40 truckloads of firewood combined for a blaze that left a family of 10 homeless Tuesday and tested the mettle of two fire departments.
Dan and Lana Coalson were out of town when the fire began but their three teenage sons, four teenage daughters and an adult friend were inside when the fire broke out, family friend Kim Tilson said in a telephone interview.
“The family is pretty shook up,” said Tilson, who does not live in the home. “But we’re blessed because everyone got out alright, and that’s good because you cannot replace a life.”
A black Labrador named Mickey perished in the blaze.
The Mountain Empire Chapter of the American Red Cross has supplied the family with some clothes and a card redeemable for food, Executive Director Felicia McNabb said.
They stayed at a hotel in Glade Spring Tuesday but are expected to move to an Abingdon hotel tonight, Tilson said.
So far, investigators have pinpointed the fire’s origin as somewhere near the front of the three-story Farris Drive home.
A few basketballs, a baseball bat and several bicycles littered the yard, signaling the home as the residence of many children.
Built more than 100 years ago, the home was made of three brick sides and the rest, including the backyard patio, was made of wood.
“The house is so old it went up like kindling,” said Capt. Travis Gregory of the Glade Spring Volunteer Fire Department.
Thirty-foot tall flames leapt from the windows and doors by the time the Glade Spring and Chilhowie volunteer fire departments arrived around 9:30 a.m.
Smoke billowed across sections of Interstate 81, which runs parallel to Faris Drive, and snarled traffic before firefighters pulled up to the house. Faris is a dead-end road that opens across from northbound Exit 32.
Glade Spring Training Officer Andrew Burke pointed to a line of blackened trees that separated the house from the interstate.
“Almost as soon as we arrived, the wind hit,” Burke said. “There were flames going all the way to these trees … and that’s where our trucks were parked.”
Once at the house, the family warned firefighters about the 1,000 gallons of kerosene stored inside a furnace tank in the basement.
Firefighters built a perimeter around the tank to fight back any encroaching flames, Gregory said.
But the real problem was the wind and sleet.
“The wind picking up didn’t help any,” Glade Spring fire Lt. Clifford Chapman said. “It [wind] was just feeding the fire.”
Firefighters had beaten back most of the flames roughly five hours later. By then, just the three brick sides remained. Columns of smoke rose from between the crumbling bits of the house’s wooden frame.
Flames still raged from underneath a mammoth stock of charred firewood that was piled underneath the remnants of a multi-storied patio. Firefighters said the stockpile was equal to about 40 truckloads.
A bulldozer had been called to plow over both the stockpile and the patio so firefighters could attack the fire.
“We’ll still probably be here by midnight,” Burke said of the intense blaze.
mowens@bristolnews.com
(276) 645-2549
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement