Jan. 10--WILLIAMSON -- A fire destroyed a man's house yesterday in Williamson.
Williamson Fire Chief Jerry Mounts told the Daily News that a call came in at around 11:55 a.m. of a structure fire within the city.
The single family dwelling was completely engulfed in flames once the Williamson Fire Department arrived at 1037 Maxwell St., at McCoy Camp.
Mounts said that the house, which belonged to Linwood Starling, was unoccupied at the time of the fire.
Three engine companies and 11 firefighters battled the flames. The initial attack crew was under the direction of Lt. Stephen Casey.
The fire was brought under control at around 12:25 p.m., but the WFD remained on scene for a total of five hours.
Mounts said that the home was a complete loss and that, because of that, "there is no way of determining the cause" of the fire.
Once it was realized that Starling's house was beyond saving, Mounts said that all of the WFD's efforts were focused onto saving a nearby house, around 20 feet away, that belonged to John Dillard.
"We concentrated all of our efforts onto protecting Dillard's house," Mounts said. "There was no way we could have saved Linwood's."
Mounts said that, as an example, even if the WFD had brought in a helicopter with thousands of gallons of water and dropped it onto Starling's house, it would not have mattered.
However, Dillard's house escaped any damage.
Copyright 2012 - Williamson Daily News, W.Va.
