Morning fire engulfs attic of Jackson Street house
December 12, 2012
By NATHAN GREGORY
citybeat@starkvilledailynews.com
No injuries were reported after the attic of a house on 511 Jackson Street caught fire Wednesday morning, but the structure has been declared a loss, Starkville Fire Department officials said.
Fire Marshal Stein McMullen said SFD responded to a call at 9:27 a.m. to find the upper portion of the building in flames.
“When we got (to the scene) there was a flame coming out of the attic and about … 10 minutes at the most it came out of the roof,” McMullen said. Pretty much all of the fire was in the roof and it spread throughout the attic space.”
The exact cause of the fire has not been determined, but there is a high probability that it was electrical in nature, Fire Marshal Mark McCurdy said.
Firefighters were able to rescue two pets from inside the house.
Officials from Oktibbeha-Starkville Emergency Response Volunteer Services provided the homeowners with a retail store gift card, certificates to local restaurants and a prayer blanket. OSERVS Director of Operations Connie Malone said the agency normally also pays for a three-night stay at a local motel, but in this case the homeowners had family members in town and had plans to stay with them.
“They have some immediate needs right now and they just need to know somebody cares,” Malone said.
