Blaze Destroys Florida Firefighter's House

LAKELAND, Fla. -- As a firefighter, Valdosta Fire Department Sgt. Chuck Jones keeps careful watch of his home. For example, he installed a dozen smoke detectors in the Lanier County house which once belonged to his grandparents.

"But if you're not home to hear them, they do you no good," Jones says.

Last weekend, fire destroyed the house where Jones has lived for 45 years and where he and wife Stacy have raised their two daughters, Chelsea, 16, and Linsee, 7.

Given the hottest part of the fire seems to have burned in the living area, along the wall by the girls' bedrooms, Stacy Jones says they were blessed to have been out of town when the fire started. The smoke detectors may not have sounded quick enough.

With seven years at the Valdosta Fire Department and previous years as a volunteer firefighter, Chuck Jones has seen what a house fire can do to property and people. He currently works as a truck driver with the VFD's Fire Station No. 7 at the Valdosta Regional Airport.

For more than two-anda-half years, Stacy Jones has delivered newspapers for The Valdosta Daily Times; she also takes online college courses. This past weekend, she and Chuck Jones traveled to Jacksonville, Fla., to find a new car so she could continue delivering papers. Their daughters stayed with family. Their son, Jake, attends Valdosta State University and plans to study law at the University of Georgia.

At approximately 4 a.m., Sunday, July 29, the fire began destroying the 153 E. Main St., house where three to four generations of Chuck Jones' family has lived. Jones said the house was constructed primarily of "fat lighter," resin-steeped wood from the heart of a pine, which is considered highly flammable once a fire starts.

The fire's cause remained undetermined Wednesday.

Fire claimed most of the house and what wasn't consumed was ruined by smoke, flame and water damage. The family lost furniture, clothes, appliances, back-to-school items, everything inside of the house.

Since the fire, the family has lived inside of a barn on the property. A loaned industrial fan cooled them until they could install an air-conditioner inside of the barn. They have managed to install a few appliances. The barn already had running water, but the Joneses were planning to create a makeshift shower Wednesday.

The destroyed house was 2,200 square feet. The barn is 2,000 square feet.

"It's a crude form of living," Jones says of the barn, "but it's comfortable."

The family has done all within its power to deal with the devastating loss while still living their lives. With help from family, Stacy Jones has not missed a morning delivering her newspaper route during the past few days.

Though they lost their back-to-school clothes and items, the girls plan on attending the first day of Lanier County Schools Friday morning. Chelsea is a rising Lanier County High School junior. Linsee is a rising second-grader.

Help from family, friends, and strangers has supported the family during the past few days.

"It is unreal how many people have helped and offered help," Stacy Jones says. "You don't know that you know so many people or that they know you."

Chuck Jones says, "People I don't even know have been stepping up."

"It's overwhelming," Stacy Jones says.

Copyright 2012 - The Valdosta Daily Times, Ga.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service