Fire destroys home
By John Joyce
Published in News on November 26, 2015 12:06 AM
Annie Bonner should have been off Wednesday.
Instead, she was called in to work.
Had she been home, she might have taken a nap, which would have meant she would have been asleep as her home burned around her.
The Goldsboro Fire Department was dispatched to a possible structure fire at 344 Piedmont Airline Road just before 3:30 p.m. Wednesday afternoon.
"Engine 4 arrived first on scene. They reported smoke and fire showing," Assistant Fire Chief James Farfour said. "We'd already had reports of that. There had been several calls."
Additional engines arrived on scene, and fire crews went to work attacking the fire. But within a few minutes, those inside reported back to Farfour they saw indications of impending danger. He told his men to back out.
"We pulled our guys out just before -- it was maybe a total of four or five minutes at most -- before the roof collapsed," Farfour said.
The fire continued to burn, fully consuming the interior of the home. Firefighters climbed ladders to the roof and cut away sections at a time to ventilate the structure. Downed power lines sparked in the driveway.
Mrs. Barnes, who three months ago lost her husband, Anthony, to a sudden heart attack, stood by watching helplessly.
"I was going to move," she said. "Up until about six weeks ago. I had been looking but I couldn't find anything so I just gave up," she said.
Most of everything she owned was still inside.
"My fridge, my washer and dryer, my dining room set, living room set, my bedroom set," she said.
Her daughter and 4-month-old grandson had been living with her, but were partially moved out, Mrs. Barnes said. They still had some items in the home as well.
"We are nowhere near determining the cause yet," Farfour said. His men were still tearing apart the rubble where Mrs. Barnes' bedroom used to be, putting out hot spots to ensure the fire did not rekindle.
"If it gets dark before we get done, we might just have to secure it overnight and continue with the investigation tomorrow," he said.
The Wayne County chapter of the American Red Cross was called in to assist Mrs. Barnes and her family with whatever they might need over the next few days.
She said she was not sure where she would be spending Thanksgiving. She said she had just finished shopping earlier in the day and was planning on cooking her holiday meal at home.
"I'll stay with family, I'm sure.," she said. It has been her family, and her neighbors she sees as family who have gotten her through what has been the most difficult few months of her life, she said. That, and keeping busy.
"Keeping busy, and being around family," she said.