A blaze that spread rapidly through a home on Davison Drive in Reynolds Lake Oconee left very little in its wake Dec. 26.
Personnel from Greene County Fire and Rescue, including Engines 9, 10, 11, and 13, Battalion 1, M13, and EMS, responded to the fire, along with Greensboro Fire, Walker Church Fire, and a ladder truck from Putnam County.
Engine 10 arrived within 10 minutes of authorities being notified by a neighbor and an alarm notification, but the two-story, 9,000-square-foot home was already 80 percent involved, according to Greene Fire and Rescue. The garage and the car parked inside it were saved.f
No injuries were reported, and the family living in the house was not home at the time of the fire.
According to Emergency Management Agency Director Joe Bashore, extreme radiant heat also caused multiple grass fires in the area that crews had to contend with.
Insurance companies and state fire marshals are investigating the blaze to determine what caused it to flare up so rapidly, but officials hadn’t concluded their investigations as of Monday, Dec. 29.
Crews from two shifts were able to respond to the fire because it occurred close to the shift change, Bashore said. This allowed extra personnel to be on hand for the fire, as the on-duty shift when the fire started stayed on scene, with the next shift arriving shortly thereafter, including volunteers. Bashore said crews worked extremely hard under challenging conditions to limit damage to the residence.
Bashore estimated that fire crews were pumping as much as 2,000 gallons of water a minute into the fire. Two new tankers recently acquired by the Greene County Board of Commissioners were also on hand to shoulder some of the workload and water requirements.
To protect the properties of nearby neighbors, crews also returned the next day to attend to hotspots and smoke.
“We appreciate the firefighters and volunteers and the job done by the 911 Center,” Bashore said. “We also appreciated the support of our community. Thank you to everyone involved for the hard work, professionalism, and outstanding teamwork shown in these incidents. Your dedication to serving our community does not go unnoticed.”
Greene County Fire and Rescue also responded to an active chlorine leak at the Greensboro water treatment facility. Personnel from Engine 11, Battalion 1, Hazmat 9, and EMS responded and successfully used a special device to stop the leak, which could have resulted in serious injuries had the 150-pound tank ruptured.
“Outstanding work by the crews to quickly mitigate a dangerous situation,” Bashore said.
Residents responded with gratitude and praise for the local fire department's work on social media.
A post from Connie Karpinsky captured the essence of the local reaction: “My heart breaks for the family whose house burned to the ground yesterday. A family of four who were not home at the time, yet still lost everything they knew as HOME. Today I saw a photo posted with the beautiful rainbow stretched across the sky above the devastation. In the midst of so much loss, it felt like a quiet reminder of hope, of God’s presence, and of the strength and love that will surround this family as they will begin again.”