Blazes take
homes of
3 families

By BOB HIGH

Three families are living with relatives after they lost their homes to fire Monday and Tuesday, and a quick response by Lake Waccamaw and Chadbourn firefighters is credited with minimizing damage to two other residences.

The Tyree Cabinet Shop in the Williams Township community along U.S. 701 was damaged by fire early Tuesday, a few weeks after construction of the building because flames destroyed the original business.

Evergreen’s volunteer firefighters were extremely busy Monday as they responded to Kissam Lane off N.C. 242 north of Evergreen at 2:15 a.m. where fire engulfed the home of Evergreen fireman Walter Lewis.

“Lewis and the others were lucky to get out of the house,” said Ronnie Hayes, the county’s Emergency Management director. “He was awakened by a smoke alarm and a dog barking and saw flames in the kitchen and living room. Lewis said the smoke was very heavy. He crawled to where his grandchild was sleeping, got the child and went back to his bedroom where he, his wife and the child went out the window.”

The old frame home was destroyed and Lewis lost a motorcycle that was parked under his carport, but managed to get a vehicle out of danger. Lewis has been a member of the Evergreen unit for 15 years and is a paramedic.

Hayes said firefighters and equipment from Cerro Gordo, Fair Bluff, North Whiteville and Klondyke units assisted Evergreen’s department.

Evergreen’s second

Tom Hayes, Evergreen’s fire chief, said his department’s second call Monday was shortly before noon at a home where the Mamie Shepherd family lived along Old 74 Highway southeast of Evergreen.

The home, owned by Luke Stephens, was “80 years old, at least” and the fire began in a bedroom. “The back of the house was gone when we got there,” Tom Hayes noted.

One person was home and managed to get out without injury. The family of three lost everything, the chief added.

Tuesday was a busy day for county firefighters with the fire at the Tyree business at 7 a.m. followed by an 11 a.m. blaze in a home along Peacock Road southeast of Chadbourn, and another at 1:30 p.m. in a home along N.C. 130 in the Old Dock area.

The Old Dock fire was in a singlewide mobile home that had been added to by Glenn Ezzell, and began in the laundry area. Ronnie Hayes said Ezzell and his wife were grocery shopping at the time and lost everything.

“Three portable oxygen tanks, one where the fire started and two in an adjacent bedroom, exploded and added to the blaze. The house had aluminum wiring and all of it melted, so it’s hard for us to determine the actual cause,” the emergency director added.

The Old Dock-Cypress Creek department was assisted by units from Hallsboro, Nakina and Brunswick.

Cabinet shop fire

The fire in the Tyree business in the 7000 block of U.S. 701 South was caused by spontaneous combustion of vapors from open containers of stain used in the cabinet business, Ronnie Hayes noted.

Jimmy Wayne Tyree opened the building and turned on the lights at 7 a.m. and went to a nearby family member’s home for a few minutes. When he returned the room where stain is sprayed on new cabinets was on fire.

The spark from electricity being energized in the building started the blaze. Quick response by Williams Township firefighters contained the major damage to that area of the structure, reports show.

A cigarette is believed to have caused the fire at 11 a.m. Tuesday in a home in the 8000 block of Peacock Road near Chadbourn. The fire began in a small plastic trashcan in a bedroom and spread to a nearby entertainment center, curtains and the bed.

Firefighters from Chadbourn, Klondyke, North Whiteville and Cerro Gordo managed to contain most of the damage to the bedroom. Ann Corder, 76, and Anthony Corder, 43, lived in the home owned by Harold Fipps, Ronnie Hayes reported.

Lightning strike

Lightning is the probable cause of a fire Tuesday at 7:15 p.m. at the Lake Waccamaw home of Harold Wells, reports Lake Fire Chief Eddie Morgan.

Veteran fireman Chris Wood, captain of the lake’s ladder company, was at the boat landing along Canal Cove Road and saw a lightning strike hit in the area of Wells’ home.

Wood investigated and noticed some smoke and a small flame on the wood-shingled roof of Wells’ home and notified 9-1-1. Morgan said he and several other firemen were at the department’s building and responded quickly.

“We had 27 people and equipment from St. James, Bolton and Hallsboro on the scene within 15 minutes, and we’re lucky Chris investigated the lightning strike. There were a few wood shingles damaged, and one small part of the eave was damaged by fire, but that’s all,” Morgan noted.

The lightning blew electrical receptacles out of the walls in the upstairs bathroom, but did no further apparent inside damage, the chief added.