LILLIAN, Ala. (WKRG) UPDATED (2:45 p.m.) — According to the homeowner, the fire started in a fireplace. They tried to put it out with a fire extinguisher, but it was too late.
“All of a sudden I smelled a little puff of smoke and stuff and everything just burst into flames.” All Bruce Cash and his wife could do was watch as five different fire departments tried to save what they could and prevent further damage to a neighbor’s home.
“Our main concentration was on the exposure because the primary structure was basically a total loss by then,” Perdido Beach VFD Chief Ken Wright said.
Cash says he started his morning with a fire in the fireplace, his wife was still in bed. “I came back there and woke her up, I said get up. The house is on fire. It’s going.” They grabbed what they could, which wasn’t much, and got out. “It don’t take much to get it started and then it just went,” said Cash.
Firefighters were able to limit damage to the neighbor’s house by tearing off the siding and opening up the roof that had already started to burn. But for the Cash’s, the place they had called home for the last four years, was a total loss. “Probably tear the place up and build it again,” said Cash.