Ga. Blaze Sends Firefighter to Hospital
DACULA, Ga. --
A firefighter was taken to the hospital after battling a house fire in Gwinnett County.
David Wallace and his family were at a movie Saturday night. When they returned home, they found firefighters surrounding their house on Williams Street in Dacula.
"We come back and we seen fire trucks and police everywhere and we didn't know what was going on," homeowner David Wallace told WSB-TV.
Wallace's parents were actually in the house when the fire started.
"He just said that he and his wife were in the living room watching tv and he heard a noise and thought he smelled smoke and walked down to the bedroom and the the smoke was just billowing," neighbor Dorothy Sims said Arnold Wallace told her after exiting the house.
"Crews found smoke and flames showing from the front and attic of a ranch style house on arrival," Lt. Eric Eberly of the Gwinnett Fire Department reported in an emailed release. "Crews made immediate entry to conduct a search and battle the blaze."
Fire officials believe it was an electrical short in a fan that started the fire.
"The fire caused extensive damage to the entire home," reported Eberly.
Several cats are believed to have died in the fire.
"(Arnold Wallace) was only able to get one out," Sims told WSB-TV's Rebecca Lindstrom. "He went back in to rescue the other cats and he was just overcome with smoke."
Paramedics transported the Arnold Wallace to the hospital after he complained of minor chest pains.
The firefighter suffered fatigue and was taken to the hospital.
Both are expected to be okay.
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