By some stroke of luck, the woman who lived in an Elkton Road home destroyed by fire early Monday was with family when the flames broke out, an official said.

When firefighters arrived just after 5 a.m., fire had spread throughout the single-story, wood-frame home at 19278 Elkton Road, said Piney Chapel Volunteer Fire Chief Lance Pitts.

“We initially thought the lady who had been living there was in the home,” Pitts said Monday. “But for some reason she was staying with her daughter last night. We found out she wasn’t inside when she and her daughter and her son-in-law pulled up. One of the neighbors called them.”

The fire originated in the kitchen of the home.

“We believe it was a short in a plug,” Pitts said.

In addition to destroying the vinyl-sided home, the fire damaged a 300-square-feet storage building beside the house and the vinyl siding on a home in front of the house, Pitts said.

Firefighters from three departments responded, including four from Athens Fire and Rescue, four from Owens Volunteer Fire Department and six from Piney Chapel.

By 9:30 a.m., they had subdued the blaze.

“Once we determined that there was no one inside, we used an exterior attack (on the fire) because it was not worth risking personnel,” Pitts said.