Chesterfield house total loss following fire
CHESTERFIELD, Va. (WWBT) - Chesterfield fire crews battled a house fire on Friday evening.
Crews were called by a neighbor shortly after 6 p.m. on Friday to a house fire on Swift Creek Lane.
When firefighters arrived, they found flames shooting from all sides of the home.
“We don’t know how long the fire was burning before anybody noticed the fire,” Assistant Fire Chief John Boatwright said. “We immediately went into fire attack mode.”
Boatwright says the fire was so intense that it burned down a live power line nearby the home as crews were battling the flames.
“There was a powerline drop to the house that burned away from the house onto the ground,” Boatwright said. “Dominion Energy was on the scene in about 30 minutes and de-energized the line, which didn’t hamper our fire attack.”
Officials said the home is a total loss. No one was inside the house at the time of the fire, and there were no injuries reported.
Firefighters will stay at the scene for several hours to check for hidden flames.
“Chesterfield crews will continue to be on scene for what we call overhauls to check for any hidden fire as they move through the structure to finalize extinguishment,” Boatwright said.
The fire marshal is investigating the cause but says there is no indication of anything suspicious. Despite this, Boatwright says fires will only become more common as temperatures plummet this winter.
“At this point, with the weather turning cold like it is, fires will be on the uptick,” Boatwright said. “We encourage everybody to have a working smoke detector at least on every level of their home, so if you have a two-story house, one on each level, and preferably one outside every bedroom.”
Boatwright says carbon monoxide detectors are also essential as more homeowners use generators to power and heat their homes during the colder months.
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