Blaze destroys Belmont County home
By BRIANNA SADLER, Times Leader Staff Writer
POSTED: March 25, 2008
Article Photos
For Hendrysburg residents Billi and Brian Bell, their worst fear came to reality on Monday morning as they watched fire crews from Barnesville, Moorefield, Somerton, and Fairview fight to save what was left of their house at 66577 Freeport Road.
“I tried to save the house, but I couldn’t. I did the best I could. Automatically, it just filled up with smoke. It happened so fast,” Billi said with tears in her eyes as she recalled the last few moments she spent inside of the house before evacuating the structure with her 8-year-old son and four dogs in tow.
The family had just moved into the residence a little more than a week ago after leaving a home they were still in the process of paying for in Glencoe.
“It was unlivable after the flooding,” Brian said.
Billi said that the house on Freeport Road belonged to her brother and that he had agreed to rent it to her so that she could move closer to her family in the area.
Around 9 a.m. on Monday, Billi said that she noticed her dogs were acting unusual. At the time, she was in the kitchen on the first floor of the residence unpacking while her son was in his bedroom on the second floor playing his Sony Playstation.
Billi said that she didn’t smell or see anything at first, but when her son came downstairs and told her he saw smoke in his bedroom, Billi went upstairs to investigate.
“I told him to turn off his Playstation so that I could listen,” Billi said. “I heard a crackling sound.”
Billi’s son was the first to notice the smoke.
“I thought there was a fire under the floor,” the boy said. “I was scared.”
When Billi realized the noise was coming from the chimney, she ran to try to put out the small kettle fire that she had lit to “take the chill off.”
Without a telephone line connected, Billi had to rely on her cell phone to call the police, but she said that she had just run out of minutes earlier that morning.
“Thankfully, they still let you dial 911 without minutes,” Billi said.
Soon after the emergency call, crews arrived, and Billi was able to use someone’s cell phone to call her husband at work.
Meanwhile, the crews fought diligently, tearing off the siding of the house surrounding the chimney to look for the fire within the walls.
“This is just unreal. This was supposed to be a good start for us,” Billi said.
Moorefield EMT Cindy Bear was a part of the crew who arrived on the scene. She noted that around 10:20 a.m., the fire had been successfully distinguished.
“The bad thing is that it will be another house sitting here half burnt down,” Bear said. “At least, the residents got out. A house can be replaced.”
Barnesville Fire Chief Bob Smith said that the fire resulted because of some holes in the bricks surrounding the chimney.
“The fire made it out of the holes and got into the wall,” Smith said.
He added that the fire marshal would not be called because the cause of the fire was not suspicious.
“We were under the impression that the fireplace was usable,” Brian said. “We had used it for two days.”
The damage caused by the fire was still unknown as crews continued to check for “hot spots” on the side of the house. But what Brian did know was that his $400 entertainment system, some blankets, beds, a television set and the Sony Playstation were all in the living room, the bedroom above it and the attic above that where the fire had caused the most destruction.
“I don’t have much to begin with, but the things that were important were in those rooms,” Brian said.
Billi said that she didn’t know where her family was going to go. And as she took another glance at the structure, she wept and wondered out loud where her two cats, who had made it out of the structure safely, were located.
“I’ll probably never see them again,” Billi said, fighting back tears.
Sadler may be reached at bsadler@timesleaderonline.com
