RURAL HOME FIRES

My address is listed as North Little Rock, Arkansas. Actually I live outside the city limits ... "in the county" (Pulaski). As such, emergency services -- in this case, the Fire Department -- are from the East Pulaski Volunteer Fire Department. [I know, it says EAST. Technically & geographically , this area is EAST of Little Rock.]

Since I moved here in 1996, there have been several house fires in the area I am aware of. In two cases, people were killed, one of those being Mr. Mayo, who had a home at the end of my road. He was old & frail, & as the story goes, when the fire was underway, he went back inside the house to look for his wife. She was already outside & he died in the fire.

Another fire was just about a 1/4 mile from here. I woke one night to noises, which turned out to be the trucks & cars of the Volunteer Firemen. The house was being totally consumed by flames & the firemen had to keep running in water trucks to fight the fire. The house was lost. There are no fire hydrants out here in the country.

A few years ago, I was out of town when an electrical outlet shorted & melted some wires in my garage. This is were I have my turtle & lizard collection. I was VERY LUCKY a fire did not result, although the smoke/soot damage from melted plastic resulted in a large clean-up job covered by insurance.

From the damaged/destroyed homes I have seen, it appears that if a fire gets well started, then by the time the Volunteer Firemen & their equipment make it to the location, the chances are slim & none to save the structure without MAJOR damage. In most cases, the homes are gutted by the fire & will have to be torn down, or completely rebuilt.

This picture is the latest home in my area I have seen destroyed by fire. It must have happened Thanksgiving weekend. I drove by the house -- on Faulkner Lake Road -- on Wednesday. The home was there. When I went past the location again on Sunday, the house was leveled. I have no idea what caused the fire but everything about the house has been destroyed, including a car in the driveway.

What concerns me, is this location is across the road from the Stone Links golf course & housing development. It is inside the city limits of North Little Rock & as such should have had the city's fire services respond, not Volunteeers. How did this fire get so out-of-hand ? How long did it take for ANY fire equipment & personnel to arrive ? I never saw, heard or read anything about this fire.

I don't use "fire" in my house. I don't burn candles & although I have a fireplace & stove insert, I do not use them. I have my gas furnace inspected twice a year. Outdoors, I do burn some trash, leaves & tree limbs, all well away from the house, in only the best weather conditions.

The last thing I would want would be to have a fire at my house. From the burned homes I have seen locally, a house fire requires three phone calls: (1) -- 911 (2) -- Insurance company (3) -- An Architect ... because the house is going to go to the ground. Not a pleasant thought.

Everyone reading this -- BE FIRE SMART & FIRE SAFE !!