Winter Storm Fern thrust most of Dickson County into a deep freeze last week, but one Vanleer family found themselves flung from an arctic blast to a blazing inferno.
Samantha “Sammi” Nelson, 39, and her son Everett, 11, were braving the storm like everyone else on Sunday, Jan. 25 at their home on Highway 49 in Vanleer when the power went out. Nelson told The Dickson Post she called her brother-in-law and sister, and her brother-in-law offered to come get them. While the power came on shortly thereafter, Nelson still decided to go to her sister’s home. Twenty minutes after they left, Nelson received a call from a neighbor that the house was on fire.
The Vanleer Volunteer Fire Department responded to the call with one engine, one tanker and eleven firefighters, according to VVFD Capt. Ruben Schmittou, Jr. When crews arrived on the scene Sunday evening, the house was already 90 percent enflamed and it took fire fighters three-and-a-half hours to extinguish the fire, leaving the home a total loss. The cause of the blaze has been listed as undetermined. Schmittou said the home was all electric with no gas lines running to it…