A house fire on Tom Bell Road in White County sent one person to the hospital late Wednesday night, but firefighters managed to keep the flames contained to a single bedroom. All occupants had already made it out of the home before crews arrived, and the blaze was knocked down quickly, sparing most of the structure from fire damage even as smoke spread through the rest of the house.
According to accessnorthga.com, firefighters contained the fire to one bedroom late Wednesday night. White County Fire Services said crews responded to the scene, while WSB-TV reported the department's account placed the initial call at about 11:15 p.m. Wednesday. Either way, crews arrived to find the fire burning inside the home, with the occupants already safely outside.
Firefighters from the City of Cleveland and City of Helen departments responded to assist the lead crew, and the White County Sheriff's Office and White County EMS also came to the scene, per the same accessnorthga.com report. EMS personnel evaluated two people who were on scene and ultimately transported one person to Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville.
Fire Confined to One Room, but Smoke Spreads Through Home
Despite the quick response, the home did not escape unscathed. The outlet's report notes that while the fire itself was limited to one bedroom, the residence sustained significant smoke damage throughout. By around 1 a.m. Thursday, all units had returned to service, closing out the overnight response.
. The cause of the fire has not been determined, and the Georgia State Fire Marshal's Office is investigating, according to the same accessnorthga.com account.
Second White County Blaze in Recent Memory
This is not the only serious house fire White County has dealt with recently. A separate fire destroyed a home in the northwestern part of the county on a Friday night, according to a different accessnorthga.com report. That blaze was reported just before 8 p.m. at a home on Paradise Valley Road, and firefighters arriving on scene reportedly found the single-story house fully engulfed in flames. Officials said that home was a total loss, though no one was injured in that incident.
The Tom Bell Road fire, by contrast, ended with the home still standing and only one room damaged by flames, even as one resident needed hospital care. With the cause still unverified, residents will likely be watching for updates from fire investigators in the days ahead.
