By Sarah Nagem
snagem@salisburypost.com
Lightning might have started a fire that destroyed a Salisbury home Sunday night, a fire chief said.
The fire broke out in the garage area of the home at 415 Candlewick Drive, said Rusty Alexander, chief of the Locke Fire Department.
A homeowner indicated that lightning might have struck the clothes dryer in the garage area, Alexander said.
The fire started around 7:40 p.m.
“There was heavy smoke in the sky,” Alexander said. “It could be seen from four or five miles away.”
About half of the house was engulfed by flames when firefighters arrived, he said.
Firefighters went inside the home to extinguish the blaze, but the fire was spreading too fast, Alexander said. So they had to fight the fire from the outside.
“There was more fire than we could control,” he said.
“Moments after we pulled (the firefighters) out, the garage collapsed.”
A car was parked in the garage, he said.
Neighbors said Eugene and Dee Addison lived in the house, along with their two teenage children. The family was home when the fire broke out.
As firefighters were extinguishing the last flames, neighbors said the Addisons were too upset to talk about what happened.
Alexander said medics treated one person who lived in the house, but he did not say why.
Firefighters spent about 45 minutes to an hour getting the fire under control, Alexander said.
Candlewick Drive is a dead end, so firefighters had to run a hose about three-fourths of a mile to the house, he said.
Alexander said the fire produced so much smoke that some travelers from the Jake Alexander Boulevard area drove toward the fire to catch the glimpse. The situation created heavy traffic, he said.
Locke, Franklin, South Salisbury and Salisbury City fire departments responded, along with Rowan Rescue.