Firefighters late Wednesday night were dispatched to a report of a structure fire located on Chesterton Drive. The first unit arrived on the scene at 11:48 pm and reported that a two-story wood-frame home had heavy fire involvement along the roofline. The residents of the home had already evacuated the structure and confirmed that all of the family and their pets were accounted for. Due to heavy fire involvement, and reports of the safety of the residents, the decision was made to perform an exterior attack on the fire with large handheld hose lines. Once crews were able to get a large portion of the fire knocked down, they safely transitioned to an interior fire attack to completely mitigate the emergency.
The fire is under investigation with the Fire Marshal's Office on the scene today. The fire started on the upper floor of the structure with the point of origin unknown at this time. The residents were notified about the fire by their smoke alarm. This afforded them the time and opportunity to safely exit the structure. Athens-Clarke County Fire Chief Jeff Scarbrough would like to remind the community about the importance of having working smoke alarms. He said, "We are happy to see a positive outcome in an otherwise tragic situation". He added, "Without working smoke alarms, the result could have been much different".
No injuries were reported. The American Red Cross was called to assist the family with their short-term needs.
