(This story has been updated to reflect comments from an Atwell Fire Department official.)
Four people and two dogs were displaced after an early morning fire in Atwell on Saturday morning.
Firefighters responded to a home in the 7400 block of Therrell Road at approximately 3:30 in the morning in response to a structure fire, finding an active fire in a manufactured home. When they arrived on scene they found fire showing through the roof of the building and present throughout the home, said Atwell Fire Department Captain Henry Parham.
Three occupants were in the home at the time the fire started and were alerted by the smell of smoke and their smoke alarms, said Rowan County Interim Fire Chief Allyson Summitt. The occupants were able to escape the home without injury. Parham said that firefighters were able to rescue two dogs that had been trapped in the home without injuries.
Parham noted that the incident represented the first opportunity to utilize a new system that the southern Rowan County fire departments had teamed up to implement, titled pre-determined assignments. Under the new system, equipment that arrives on scene has an assignment already lined up, based on order of arrival. For an example, Parham said that the first fire truck would begin fire attack while a second would begin performing searches of the home. Previously, one of the first-arriving units would establish command and dole out assignments to units as they arrive.
“It went flawlessly,” said Parham
The fire caused extensive damage to the home, said Summitt. The Red Cross was requested to assist four residents and two dogs that were displaced as a result of the fire.
Summitt said that no firefighters were harmed while working to control the flames.
The origin of the fire is believed to have been an outside chicken coop, said Summitt, but the Rowan County Fire Marshall’s Office is still investigating the cause.
