House in Normaltown neighborhood of Athens gutted by fire

By Joe Johnson

A late night fire on Friday destroyed a house in the Normaltown neighborhood outside of downtown Athens.

The residence at the corner of Reese and North Chase streets had been occupied at the time, but everyone reportedly made it outside without being injured.

A 911 call to report the house fire was received by the fire department at 11:49 p.m. and when fire crews arrived five minutes later they saw that flames were shooting through the roof of the single-family wooden structure, and found that a neighboring house was being damaged by intense heat.

Firefighters focused on keeping the fire from spreading while at the same time extinguishing the main body of the fire from the exterior of the structure.

Once conditions improved, crews went inside to complete extinguishing the blaze and to conduct a search for possible victims. 

All residents were all accounted for and confirmed to be safe. They declined an offer of assistance from the Northeast Georgia Chapter of the American Red Cross.

The cause of the fire and its area of origin were under investigation, according to Athens-Clarke County Fire Chief Nate Moss, who late Friday afternoon said that preliminary findings suggested that the fire began in the living room and the cause may have been electrical in nature.