Elizabethtown Fire Department battles overnight house fire

ELIZABETHTOWN, NC (WWAY) — Crews with the Elizabethtown Fire Department spent Tuesday night battling a house fire.

Several other departments joined them in response to a reported structure fire in the 800 block of Peanut Plant Road just before 10:30 p.m.

Station 55 was on scene within  four minutes of dispatch and found heavy fire and smoke conditions from two windows and throughout the attic space of the home. Bystanders on scene had escaped the fire but reported that a dog was still inside. Crew members quickly began an aggressive search for the pet but were met with extremely high heat conditions at all entrances to the home.

The home is an older home with tongue and groove construction along with tin over shingles. Crews say his creates and environment within the structure that if a fire is developed enough the home will hold in the heat until ventilation occurs or fire breaches the construction. Interior crews were able to locate the pet in under 10 minutes even with the life threatening conditions, but the dog unfortunately died due to smoke inhalation.

Crews fought the fire for 2.5 hours, staying on the scene until around 8:00 a.m. Wednesday morning to make sure the fire didn’t restart.

The tenants of the home will be receiving assistance through the Red Cross. The cause of the fire is still being investigated but accidental by way of an electrical failure is assumed by the fire department.