Cause believed to be accidental

A house off Adams Road in unincorporated Fayette County was heavily damaged by a Friday afternoon fire.

The homeowner initially delayed calling 911 because he tried to put the flames out himself but was unable to do so, said Capt. Pete Nelms of the Fayette County Department of Fire and Emergency Services.

Although the cause of the fire is still under investigation, it appears that it likely started while soldering work was being performed to repair a pipe, Nelms said. The fire is being ruled accidental in nature, he added.

Nelms urges residents to call 911 anytime there is a suspicion of fire, as firefighters would rather show up and find nothing than give the fire a few minutes’ head-start.

In this situation, the homeowner probably thought it was small enough for him to handle, Nelms added. But by the time the first crew responded to the scene, flames were already visible through the roof of the home, Nelms added.

A total of 25 county firefighters fought the blaze, Nelms said. Crews entered the house to knock down the flames but they were later ordered out for safety precautions, as the amount of fire became too great and the structure’s integrity was called into question, Nelms added.

Because there was no hydrant immediately near the home, crews had to use tanker trucks to ferry water to the scene from hydrants just down the road, Nelms said.

The homeowner delayed calling 911, initially attempting to put the flames out himself, Nelms said.

A person who was home at the time suffered a minor injury after initially reporting the fire to 911, officials said.

Some residents on the scene questioned the response time of firefighters, but Nelms said the first unit on the scene arrived within seven minutes of being dispatched from the county’s 911 center; it took less than a minute for the crews to be dispatched, he added. All the times are documented at the county’s 911 center, Nelms noted.

Adams Road is located in the central area of unincorporated Fayette County.

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