UNCERTAIN — Firefighters worked desperately to save an Uncertain home from a fire Wednesday, but the flames proved too strong, destroying the house and killing a dog, witnesses said.
Emergency Management Coordinator Randy Pritchard, who could be seen, along with others, working to put out the flames, said a gas explosion within the home caused the large fire that virtually destroyed the home and reduced most of it to black char.
COURTNEY CASE/NEWS MESSENGER |
A firefighter battles a gas explosion at a home in Uncertain on Wednesday where a dog was killed.
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Access to the home proved difficult for rescue units as they had to drive through near knee-high water at times to gain access to the house — tucked away in a neighborhood on Pine Island Road.
Osey Joshlin, a neighbor, said he ran over to the home after seeing the flames. He said he kicked down the back door to see if anyone needed to be rescued.
Neighbors say the owners of the home — a man and a woman — were at work when the fire occurred.
"Smoke and flames came rolling out, and I took off," said Joshlin. "I went back and picked up my water hose I was using."
Joshlin said he and another person, Shannon Clark, battled the fire until officials arrived to the scene.
"When I heard it, I ran down and Osey was fighting it and I helped him," said Clark.
Joshlin said he was able to rescue one of the dogs from the home, but that he was unable to reach the other one.
"We couldn't save it," said Joshlin. "We heard it barking after (the home) was engulfed in flames."
Heavy, gray smoke rose from the damaged house as firefighters worked diligently to suppress it. The roof had virtually collapsed to the ground.
One of the owners, a woman, declined to comment. She stood in disbelief in an adjacent yard strewn with leaves, staring as a group of people tried to console her. A man held her closely.
Pritchard and other workers at the site worked to move burnt pieces of the home near the front as firefighters continued to battle it.
Volunteer fire units from Karnack, Uncertain and Scottsville responded to the fire.
A neighbor, who declined to reveal her name, described the event as "sad." She did not know the names of either of the owners and believed the two had just been returning back to the home after floods devastated it.
"They're very upset," said Clark, who spoke to the owners after the incident. "Their house is gone."
