Heat putting Hardin County volunteer firefighters to the test

June 22– After a month with no home blazes, Hardin County’s volunteer firefighters were called on to respond to three house fires in two days.

Sunday at 4:10 p.m. as the temperature soared into the high 90s, a boater on the Tennessee River called 911 to report he could see a fire but could not give its exact location.

Based on the information at hand, however, Hardin County dispatchers were able to narrow the site of the smoke to the 4000 block of Glendale Road. Firefighters located it nearby at 40 Sleepy Hollow Road, according to county Fire Chief Melvin Martin.

"You couldn’t see it from the road," he said, and "it was fully involved when we got there."

About 25 county firefighters from Saltillo (Dist. 1), Crump-Morris Chapel (Dist. 2), Olivet-Walkertown (Dist. 6), Hookers Bend (Dist. 15) and full-time Engine 12 responded, remaining at the scene until around 7 p.m.

Martin said the 1,500-square foot river bluff vacation home belonging to Katherine Roland of Jackson was unoccupied at the time. It appears the fire started in the kitchen, but what started it is unknown at this point.

Because of the high temperature and humidity and with a heat advisory in effect, an ambulance was standing by. The fire department’s air conditioned "rehab unit," a refurbished ambulance, was also brought into play, he said.

"It was warm," the chief said. "We had a few treated for heat exhaustion."

Monday morning at 5, county volunteers from Counce-Morris Chapel (Dist. 2), Hookers Bend (Dist. 15) and Engine 1 were dispatched to the Christian Brown residence at 95 Pear Blossom, near West Hardin Elementary School.

Fortunately, the blaze proved to be largely self-extinguishing, said Martin.

A curling iron left on the bathroom floor had ignited a towel, which in turn caught the bathroom vanity and wall on fire. A plastic water pipe in the room melted and quenched the fire, he said.

"We recommend a sprinkler system," he said, "but not that kind."

Two adults and two children were present when the fire broke out but were not reported injured. He added that hard-wired smoke alarms in the home, which was built within the past two or three years, failed to sound.

Martin said that just a few hours later, at 1:15 p.m., a fire started in the attic of the Brad Bishop residence at 1140 Poplar Springs Road.

Some 15 firefighters from Cerro Gordo (Dist. 4), Bucktown (Dist. 5), Olivet-Walkertown (Dist. 6) and Engine 12 responded. The small blaze of still undetermined origin was put out with minimal structure damage, he said.