Glade Hill Fire

A piece of area history went up in smoke this morning when an old farm house at the corner of Franklin Turnpike and Timber Ridge Road burned. I don't know how old the house is—er, was—but it's way older than I am. I'm guessing it was between 90 and 100 years old.

My husband and I were headed to town today and had just neared Glade Hill Elementary School when we saw a plume of smoke farther down the road. It looked too big to be smoke from a fireplace, and brush fires are prohibited before 4 p.m. Then we saw flames coming from the old farmhouse. One firetruck was already there.

We turned into the parking lot of the Glade Hill Minute Market, where some other folks had stopped to watch. Luckily I had my little Kodak.

"Where's there's smoke, there's fire," the saying goes. A lot of fire was visible.

Soon more firetrucks arrived.

Despite all the firefighters on the scene, the house looked to be a goner. The fire had spread to a cedar tree when we decided to go on into Rocky Mount.

I hadn't seen any official photographers on the scene, so we stopped by The Franklin News-Post office and asked editor Kim Waggoner if she'd like some photos. She'd already talked to the fire marshall, so she was aware of the fire. She popped my camera card into her card reader, and we watched as the pictures appeared on her computer screen.

We then went about our business in town. When we headed home, we passed the scene again. 

A lot of firefighters were still there, and the ruins still smoldered.

I'll miss seeing the old farmhouse when I go to town. 

~

Update: You can see another picture on WDBJ7's website.