Blaze destroys home, family of 4 displaced
RUSSELLVILLE – A family of four has been displaced after their home was destroyed by fire Sunday night on the 4400 block of County Road 36.
At least 30 firefighters from Russellville and surrounding volunteer fire departments worked the fire for hours trying to extinguish the blaze, which started by a heater that was being used to thaw some frozen pipes within the home, according to Lt. Shane Mansell.
“When our personnel first got on the scene, there was heavy fire from the back of the house,” he said. “And when they discovered the fire, they left the door to the room open and the front door open, which allowed for the fire to gain oxygen and spread.”
The call came in at 6:28 p.m. and the last fire fighter to leave the scene was at 11:30 p.m., Mansell said.
Blue Springs, Frog Pond, Belgreen, Phil Campbell and Vina volunteer fire departments assisted Russellville Fire to extinguish the blaze.
Working the blaze, firefighters ran into four challenges. The first three were the number of ceilings in the 2,000 square foot older home, Mansell said.
“We would break through one ceiling only to find another ceiling,” he said. “There were three ceilings in the house, which the occupants of the home had no idea about. Then, once we cracked through the three ceilings, we found fire had spread into the large attic and eventually breached the roof.”
The fourth challenge was a result of the cold temperatures.
As tanker trucks were shuttling in water to battle the fire, some of the spilled water was freezing over the road. That made conditions difficult for the trucks to get in and out.
“We certainly appreciate the county road department for bringing in a load of sand and spreading it over the ice, so our trucks could get in and out of there,” Mansell said.
Fire Chief Joe Mansell (no relation to Shane Mansell), said each firefighter who worked the interior attack of the fire used between three to five air tanks before leaving the scene.
“I know I used at least three, myself,” Joe Mansell said.
By Monday morning, all that was left of the house were some areas still smoldering and two chimneys.
“It was a total loss,” Joe Mansell said. “By the time we left the scene the house was on the ground.”
Shane Mansell said members of Calvary Baptist Church helped to locate clothing for the family, while members of the Red Cross were working to aid in finding temporary housing for the family.
“If there’s one thing to learn from this, if you are going to use a heating source to try to thaw pipes out, be aware of how close that heating source may be to the walls, floors or anything that may be flammable,” he said. “This isn’t the first time we’ve seen or heard about people using heating sources to thaw pipes and it go bad.”
No family member or firefighter was hurt at the time of the fire or while fighting the fire, he said.
