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Photos and story by Bob Bartosz, Nash County (NC) Fire Photographer
At 10:58 a.m. on Jan 5, 2018, Nash County 911 Center received a call from a neighbor from the 4000 block of Barnes Hill Church Road in the West Mount section of Nash County for a house fire and reported that there was a woman still in the burning home. Fire departments from Station 4 West Mount, Station 14 Nashville, and Station 15 Coopers were dispatched along with Nash EMS units. First- arriving firefighters reported that they had heavy smoke and fire showing and that a neighbor had removed the woman from the burning home.
She was treated by EMS and taken to a local hospital for smoke inhalation. The neighbor was checked out by EMS and he was reported to be all right.
Fire departments from Station 11 Sharpsburg and Station 12 Red Oaks fire departments were dispatched for their water tenders as there were no fire hydrants in the area. The burning house was more than 1,000 feet from the main road on a small dirt road covered road with four inches of snow and ice. In addition, the weather conditions were 12 degrees with a cold wind blowing.
Firefighters made an aggressive interior attack in the rear bedroom of the house. Crews had a difficult time trying to get onto the tin roof that was covered with ice and snow, forcing them to pull out and attack from the outside using a 2 1/2-inch line plus three 1 3/4 lines.
It took 48 firefighters battlng the fire for nearly two hours in the cold, 12-degree temperatures to bring the fire under control. No firefighters were injured but the woman was taken to the hospital to be checked out for smoke inhalation.
Station 4 laid out 900 feet of 5-inch hose from the drop tanks to the pumper that was in front the house. The cause of the fire is being check out by the Nash County Fire Marshals office members, who were on location.
