Grease fire consumes house
Posted on Thursday, June 26, 2008
HOGEYE - A lunchtime meal turned tragic Wednesday afternoon when a grease fire burned down a family's home.
Phoeba Hodge said her two daughters and their friend were cooking french fries on the stove at 16292 Arkansas 265 when they left the kitchen to watch television.
"The grease caught on fire, and before you knew it the house was filled with smoke," Hodge said.
She said her two daughters, ages 23 and 17, and their 21-year-old friend exited the house and called 911. Personnel from the Prairie Grove, Strickler, Farmington, Boston Mountain, West Fork and Fayetteville fire departments arrived at about 11 a.m. and remained on the scene until about 4 p.m.
Neighbors said that when the fire engines arrived, flames from the blaze were shooting more than 20 feet in the air.
Tankers set up at the bottom of the winding, inclined driveway, and firefighters dragged the hose to the top to battle the flames.
Laurie Roy, assistant fire marshal in Washington County, said the house was a total loss.
The blaze lasted so long, some of the firefighters collapsed from heat exhaustion on a day with a high temperature of 86 degrees.
Roy said no one was seriously injured, and no one was transported to the hospital.
Hodge said she was still in shock, but she had got- ten a chance to talk to volunteers from the Arkansas Red Cross and felt the support of the community around her and her family.
She said her family moved from Mississippi to Hogeye seven years ago and that the people in Arkansas were the biggest draw.
"Everyone has been so kind," she said. "They really stepped up, and the neighbors have come together. If anything good comes out of it, that is it."
All that's left now is for the Hodges to start the rebuilding process.
"It's a matter of cleaning up and rebuilding," Hodge said. "We're resilient."
Roy advised anyone dealing with a grease fire to first and foremost avoid trying to put out the flames with water. The best way to put out a grease fire is to smother it with a lid or another pan or pour baking soda on it, she said. She said a good way to avoid a fire is to not leave hot pans with grease in them unattended.
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