Clothes dryer to blame for rural house fire

BY KARYN SPORY

Mt. Pleasant News

It was difficult to differentiate the dust the slew of fire trucks kicked up from the smoke billowing out of the house firefighters were racing to extinguish on White Oak Road Wednesday afternoon.

The Mt. Pleasant Fire Department received a report of a structure fire at 2096 White Oak Road, west of Mt. Pleasant, at approximately 3:39 p.m., Wednesday.

?The fire started in the basement,? said Mt. Pleasant Fire Chief Stewart Kinney. ?The clothes dryer had been left on and no one was home.?

However, the fire didn?t stay contained to the basement. Kinney said fire crews had a difficult time battling the blaze as the fire traveled through the one and a half story house, destroying the floors.

?It was tough because we couldn?t do an interior attack because the floors were bad, we had to fight from outside,? Kinney explained.

Dana Parker, who owns the home with her husband, Eric, showed up to the scene shortly after 4 p.m. Parker, who was not up for comment at the time, sat across the gravel road from her home and watched as firefighters scaled the side of her home and broke out windows in an attempt to quell the fire.

Firefighters were on scene until nearly 7 p.m.

Kinney said no one was injured, but there was extensive damage to the home.

Wayland Fire Department assisted by sending a tanker and personnel. Medical personnel from Henry County Health Center were also on scene.