Red Cross
helping family in need
By WENDY BYERLY WOOD Staff Writer
ARARAT — The family that lost its home
early Sunday morning needs help.
The home was
one of several fire calls in Surry and Yadkins counties Sunday following a
severe storm that passed through the area.
After
checking on a fire alarm and a structure fire on Pond Valley Road, Ararat and
South Surry got the call on the house fire.
“When we got the other call at 4:10 a.m., we had
South Surry to do the initial response,” said Ararat Fire Chief Chris Whitaker
of the two-story farm house that caught on fire that morning. White Plains was
left to finish up at the fire on Pond Valley Road, while Ararat, South Surry and
Pilot Knob VFDs responded to the farm house on Eldora Road.
“It was a two-story white house with a Hispanic
family living in it — a father, mother and four kids. Red Cross was called in,”
Whitaker said.
He said the smoke detectors
likely saved the lives of the family. “The mom heard something going beep, beep,
beep, and didn’t know what it was, so she went to look for the sound. That’s
when she started to smell smoke and got the family up and out. (The fire) gutted
the house.”
Johnny Simmons of Chilton Road owned
the house that the family was living in. “It was a very old farm house with
little insulation, so it went up quick,” Whitaker said.
He said that about 5,000 gallons of water were
used on the first fire and 7,000 gallons were used on the house fire. The cause
of both fires was lightening strikes.
No one was
injured during any of the fires Sunday.
Lynne
Fletcher, disaster services director for the Surry chapter of the Red Cross,
said that some area churches have provided some clothing for the family that was
burnt out of its home, and the Red Cross also provided some clothing.
“The landlord has another house a little smaller
that he is going to let them move into, but we are looking for beds for the
two-bedroom home,” Fletcher said. She said the children are a 9-yearold female,
a 7-year-old male, a 5-year-old male and a 2-year-old male, so the two older
boys will probably share a room and bunk beds may be best for them.
“If we could find some bunk beds or something
and work from there. They also will need a small-size kitchenette table,” she
said. “We can find mattresses and box springs, if people could just help with
the frames.” She said the family could also use the essentials, like towels and
sheets and more clothes. “If the public could call the Red Cross to let us know
what they have, and we can make arrangements to pick it up or for delivery over
the weekend,” Fletcher said. The local Red Cross can be reached at 786-4183.
You can reach Wendy Byerly-Wood at wbyerly@mtairynews.com.
