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By Brian O’Shea, Plateau Daily News
Highlands Fire & Rescue responded to a call reporting a house fire at 6:40 p.m. along the 400 block of Upper Lake Road on Nov. 21.
HFR Chief Ryan Gearhart said fire crews were able to knock the fire down quickly and even though the home was inhabited, there were no injuries.
“There’s some damage, but it’s pretty minimal,” said Gearhart. “There’s a lot of charring around the fireplace itself. It started to get into the attic, but we caught it pretty quick.”
He added that the fire would not have been knocked down as quickly without the assistance of other departments.
“Also, a huge thank you to our staff both paid and volunteer as well as our mutual aid departments Cashiers-Glenville FD, Rabun County station 8, Macon Co. Squad 4, Macon County EMS, and Macon county dispatchers,” said Gearhart. “Great work by all involved which resulted in a great save.”
Gearhart said investigators are leaning towards something catching fire in the chimney as the cause of the blaze.
Nov. 21 was a cold evening with significant winds. Gearhart said that while the fire was knocked down within 15 min., crews spent a significant amount of time making sure everything was extinguished before leaving the scene.
“We did a lot of overhaul to make sure everything was extinguished,” he said. “You make that good of a save on a house, you better make sure everything is out. Especially with the wind that night. One spark and you’re back there at 2 in the morning and half the house is burned down.”
HFR crews had just returned from a call for a wreck on Franklin Road on Nov. 21 when the call for Upper Lake Road came in. Gearhart said they were fortunate they had just returned, as two other trucks were out on other calls.
“We were fortunate, we had several people here and made it to Upper Lake in 5-6 min.,” he said.
Pictured at the top of the fire is the home that caught fire on Nov. 21 and had minimal damage around the chimney.