Alert Couple Able
To Flee The Blaze
Moments Before
Flames Erupted
BY BILL JONES
STAFF WRITER
A Greene County couple was awakened by smoke detectors in time to escape their burning home without injury about 5:45 a.m. today.
Billy Barnett told firefighters that he and his wife, Debbie, were awakened by smoke detectors and managed to escape their two-story home at 1520 Weems Chapel Road moments before it became engulfed in flames.
Scott Allen, chief of the Mosheim Volunteer Fire Department, said, "He (Barnett) said the house was full of smoke by the time they got outside. Moments after they got out, the house was engulfed in flames."
Chief Allen said the two-story frame house was a "total loss," and that it was fully engulfed in flames by the time the first fire truck reached the scene.
Firefighters remained on the scene at 7:50 a.m., according to Chief Allen, who said a total of 10 fire trucks and 25 firefighters from the Mosheim, Midway and Orebank volunteer fire departments responded to the fire.
Chief Allen said firefighters had to haul water to fight the fire in tanker trucks from the nearest fire hydrant on North Mohawk Road to the fire scene on Weems Chapel Road.
That meant tankers had to cross the busy West Andrew Johnson Highway at Mohawk Crossroads, according to Chief Allen.
CAUSE UNCERTAIN
The cause of the fire remains under investigation by the Greene County Sheriff's Department, Chief Allen said.
Radio transmissions about 5:45 a.m. between Greene County 911 and units of the Mosheim Volunteer Fire Department indicated that flames were visible in the living room area of the residence.
A Greene County Sheriff's Department dispatcher said Deputy Sheriff Greg Tipton had reported from the scene that the house would likely be a "total loss" as a result of the fire.
Also responding to the fire were a Greeneville Light & Power System crew, a Greene County-Greeneville Emergency Medical Services ambulance, and a disaster services unit from the Greene County Chapter of the American Red Cross.
