Sirens blared in downtown Dawsonville this past Tuesday morning as multiple emergency vehicles rushed to the scene of a burning home near the Dawson and Pickens County line.
“The matter is still under investigation. We haven’t yet been able to determine a cause, but we have no suspicions or anything that makes us think that it was intentional,” said Fire Marshal Jeff Bailey.
At around 10:30 a.m. on Sept. 26, Dawson County Fire and Emergency Services responded to a reported residential structure fire along Westside Drive, off of Ga. 53, according to the public safety agency.
Emergency personnel arrived to find a heavily-involved single family home fire.
“We would like to thank our neighboring departments, Pickens County and Big Canoe Fire for their rapid response and assistance,” a Sept. 26 DCFES Facebook post stated. “Together, we were able to contain the fire to the involved structure. At the time of the post, there are no reported injuries. Please keep the family of this home in your thoughts.”
Ivey Road fire
Thanks to some key safety measures, another Dawson County family was able to escape their home after it went up in flames early Wednesday morning.
At about 2 a.m. Wednesday, Dawson County Fire and Emergency Services responded to a fully-involved fire at a home along Ivey Road, said Fire Marshal Jeff Bailey.
An adult couple awoke to hear the tell-tale beeps of smoke detectors and quickly realized their predicament. The husband opened the bedroom door, which had been closed, only to be met with smoke.
“That was another one of the things that helped save their lives,” Bailey said of them having the closed bedroom door.
The husband and wife got out of the home with their dog without getting injured, and they were able to call 911.
Bailey said the blaze started in the attic and was electrical in nature, caused by pesky rats that had gnawed on wires throughout the space.
“By the time [emergency crews] got there, the fire had already crossed the attic, extended the length of the house and fallen through beneath to the living spaces below,” Bailey added.
The fire marshal called smoke detectors “one of the cheapest ways to ensure safety.”
“Don’t just have them but have working ones, which also means changing your batteries,” Bailey said. “We (the fire department) have programs that provide alarms for people who can’t get them on their own, and we can come and install them.”