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Updated: 5.13.08 3:45 PM EDT
Wintergreen Fire Chief, Curtis Sheets, sent these from the fire the other night. His comments are in the comment section of this post. He has the de4tails on what happened.
Thank you Chief Sheets for sending these our way and giving us the details.
Updated : 10:38 PM EDT
NCL has confirmed that units from the Wintergreen Fire Department responded to a fully engulfed structure fire on Tanner’s Ridge Sunday night around 8:30 PM. We have since been told it was just off Laurel Springs Drive. The house may have been hit by lightning.
Investigators are on the scene to definitely determine how the fire started.
More as we have it.
Photography Below, courtesy of Wintergreen Fire Department
The address of the fire was 75 North Forest Drive, which is located near Devil’s Knob. (#13 Green) Although investigators will have to confirm, it does seem apparent that lightning was the cause. The home was occupied by the owners, of Richmond, up until noon on Sunday. The house was hit by lightning around 4:30, and the fire was noticed by neighbors around 7:30. Upon arrival, in near zero visibility fog, the fire department found a fully involved structure, which was already starting to collapse. The home was a 2,000 square foot, two story, cedar sided structure. The home was a total loss.
14 firefighters from Wintergreen utilized three pumpers to fight the blaze. Rockfish Valley Fire assisted with 4 firefighters, Wilson Fire assisted with 3, and Stuarts Draft Rescue provided an EMS unit to handle calls while the Wintergreen Rescue crew was dedicated to the fire stand-by.
All crews cleared the scene shortly before 2:00 am on Monday. When the homeowner was contacted to see if any items in the home were worth digging in the ashed for, the response was “nothing in that house means anything to me, I’m glad my family is safe, and I’m glad nobody was hurt battling the blaze.”
You never get used to making calls like that. It was totally refreshing to have somebody on the other end of the conversation who so quickly put things into perspective.