Two firefighters, homeowner overcome at house fire near Ardmore

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A Monday morning fire destroyed this home at 21710 Mooresville Road in eastern Limestone County. Photo courtesy of WAFF
Two firefighters had to be treated for heat exhaustion but recovered, and one of the homeowners, distraught by the loss, rushed back into the home and had to be carried back out. Photo courtesy of WAFF

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August 31, 2010

By Jean Cole jean@athensnews-courier.com The News Courier Tue Aug 31, 2010, 02:00 AM CDT

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Two firefighters and a homeowner were overcome by a fire on Mooresville Road near Ardmore Monday morning.

The firefighters were overcome by smoke and the homeowner was overcome by the loss of her home and its memories.

“The house is a total loss,” Oak Grove-Thach Fire Chief Harold King said late Monday afternoon after he and firefighters from Piney Chapel, Elkmont and Ardmore battled the 8:50 a.m. blaze.

“We managed to save some stuff out of a back bedroom —some furniture and family photos — but that was it,” King said.

The home at 21710 Mooresville Road — located near Drawbaugh Road and Southern Gayles Golf Club in eastern Limestone County — is owned by Dennis Delong, King said.

Investigators had not determined the cause of the fire Monday afternoon, in part because the fire was still flaring and they couldn’t get inside to examine the rubble, the fire chief said.

Overwhelmed

The fire’s heat combined with adrenalin, turnout gear and hoses with 200 pounds of pressure on them prompted two firefighters to succumb to heat exhaustion, King said.

One of the men, 19-year-old Piney Chapel firefighter Justin Moss, was taken by ambulance to Athens-Limestone Hospital, said Piney Chapel Fire Chief Lance Pitts.

“He is home now and resting,” said the Piney Chapel chief.

Pitts treated the other firefighter, an assistant chief for Oak Grove, at the scene, he said.

Delong’s wife was also overcome at the scene.

“She ran into the house with it on fire and two guys had to carry her back out,” Pitts said. “She was all tore to pieces. She was very, very distraught.”

The couple told firefighters they had lived in the home for 30 years and had built an addition three years ago.

“It’s your dreams going up in flames,” Pitts said. “It made us not want to give up but, nonetheless, we had to egress. We didn’t have enough to attack the situation.”

An hour and a half into the fire, he said, firefighters managed to halt the fire and remove some of the Delong’s furniture and personal belongings before the fire resurged.

Point of no return

A security system in the home alerted 911 that smoke alarms were activated, Pitts said. In turn, 911 alerted Oak Grove-Thach and Piney Chapel for backup.

Firefighters arrived to find flames shooting from the roof. They called for assistance from Ardmore and later from Elkmont and East Limestone, Pitts said.

In all, 25 to 30 firefighters and at least seven engines battled the blaze, King said.

Firefighters from Oak Grove were still at the scene at 4 p.m. with two engines, a rescue truck and brush truck because the fire was flaring.

Delong, a woodworker who built extensive bookcases and pantry cabinetry throughout the home, is insured against the loss, King said. The addition to the home and his handiwork inside the two-story brick and wood structure seemed to make firefighting more difficult.

“With the cabinets and the cedar-plank boards for walls, once the fire got started there was no stopping it,” King said. “It is still burning pretty good at one end right now. (Delong) wasn’t home at the time (the fire broke out). When he came home, the front of the home where the television and components are is where the fire started. It was burning pretty good before it set off the alarm.”

The size of the home was also a factor.

“It was a huge house — about 4,000 square feet — and the new addition was a single story with a second story on top for storage, so we were outnumbered,” Pitts said.

The design of the addition made firefighting “tedious” and “almost impossible,” he added.

Because the home’s exterior was brick, firefighters would have had to tear down walls to get at the fire, which would have made the house unstable.

“After 2 1/2 to 3 hours, all we could do was let it burn,” Pitts said.

The probability of someone being injured fighting the fire becomes more likely than saving anything in the home, he said.