By Samantha Swindler / Managing Editor
An intense fire Wednesday night destroyed a Corbin area home.
West Knox Volunteer Fire Department received a phone call from the home’s owner at about 11 p.m. on their business line. Fire Chief Darryl Baker said firefighters share a cell phone with the business line number so it can always be answered.
When firefighters arrived at the three-story home at 296 Jenny Lane, Baker said the fire had reached about three-fourths of the house and “flames were shooting out of the roof about 30-40 feet.”
Baker said the fire got so hot, it was able to melt electric lines more than 100 feet away from the burning house, cutting off electricity to nearby homes. Firefighters also shot water on neighboring homes to make sure flying embers did not spread.
“It was a nice house, it had a lot of good stone work,” Baker said of the home, which was a complete loss, its stone walls eventually collapsing.
No one was inside the house at the time of the fire. Baker said firefighters weren’t sure of the cause, and were unable to pinpoint an origin because of the fire’s intensity.
“It’s not suspicious because the owner told us he didn’t have any insurance on it,” Baker said.
The homeowner, Shorty Smith, said neighbors called him about the fire.
“By the time they got there, there wasn’t much chance of saving it,” Smith said. “It was gone, I guess... It was already so bad, there wasn’t much they could do for it.”
Smith said the home was empty except for some tools in the basement. The house was being painted for a family planning to move into it, he said.
“We’re glad that no one got hurt or anything and the fire department did try their best,” Smith said.
Sixteen firefighters from West Knox and about eight from Keavy Volunteer Fire Department responded to the scene.
