Home Destroyed

The Jackson Lake home of Mr. and Mrs. Leon Lewis on Late Rise Road was destroyed by fire early Wednesday. The call was received by Butts County 911 who called Jasper County 911 at 3:49 a.m., after Mr. Lewis was awakened by a smoke alarm.

A unit from Butts County responded along with apparatus and firefighters from four Jasper County fire stations.

The firefighters were paged and went prepared to fight the fire with water from a hydrant in the area, but the closest hydrant was not “charged.” Apparently, water authority personnel or contractors were chlorinating the line, which requires periphery lines to be shut down during the process.

Emergency Services Director Ed Westbrook said the only difference is one other piece of equipment, JC3, would have been dispatched if they knew the hydrant was not working. Because of the one-lane road to the property, keeping a steady water supply was difficult, in spite of the availability of water on the three tankers and the hydrant at Jackson Lake Road.

Most of the responders came from Station 5 (Piedmont) said Mr. Westbrook, with some firefighter responding from Station 6 (North Alcovy), Station 3 (Monticello), and Station 7 (Farrar) who responded with the engine and the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) crew from Station 1 (Jackson Lake).