Fire Leaves Family Homeless

A DeKalb County family was left homeless after a fire destroyed their residence Monday morning at 273 Holiday Haven Drive.
911 received the call at 10:22 a.m.
Roy Merriman, Assistant County Fire Chief, said firefighters were summoned to the home of Paul and Anita Snell but were unable to save the structure.
According to Merriman, Mrs Snell was preparing to do some cooking when she got a phone call and walked from the kitchen into the living room. When Mrs. Snell returned to the kitchen she discovered the fire, called 911 on her cell phone, and then escaped unharmed. No one else was at home at the time.
The family lost their home and nearly all of their belongings in the blaze. An outbuilding near the house was also destroyed and a pickup truck in the driveway received some heat damage. Merriman said the fire burned about seven tenths of an acre around the home.
Members of the Cookeville Highway, Short Mountain Highway, Main Station, and Tanker #1 from the DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department worked to bring the fire under control along with members of the Tennessee Division of Forestry, who cut a line around the burned area to keep it from spreading into the woods. Blowers and rakes were also used to help contain the fire.