January 20, 2023
By: Dwayne Page
Several devastating fires have occurred across the county in recent weeks and the latest was early Friday morning at 470 Rolling Acres Road.
A grease fire may have been to blame for this one at the home of Leanna Mongar.
Central dispatch summoned county firefighters to the residence at 4:23 a.m. after E-911 received the call.
Upon arrival, firefighters could see heavy flames coming from the residence and through the roof and although they sprang into action quickly to bring it under control the home could not be saved and Ms. Mongar lost all her belongings.
Ms Mongar told firefighters that grease splashed on the stove and burst into flames as she was cooking breakfast before heading off to work and while she tried to extinguish it herself, the fire got out of control. She escaped unharmed and no one else was injured.
Members of the Cookeville Highway, Tanker truck, Main Station, Liberty, Midway, and Temperance Hall stations of the DeKalb County Fire Department responded along with the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department and DeKalb EMS.
American Red Cross volunteers were also called to assist the family with immediate lodging and personal needs.
In his report, Lieutenant Blake Cantrell provided a further narrative of the incident.
“DCFD arrived on the scene to a fully involved structure fire. Flames were showing from all sides including the roof at the time of arrival. Engine 61 (Cookeville Highway Station) was the first engine on the scene. We deployed 2-1 ¾” and 1-3” hand attack lines to the flame. We were not seeing enough progress, so we used the deck gun from Engine 63 (Midway Station). We were getting control of the fire at this point. The basement of the house was down a steep grade with smoke emitting so we cut an opening in the deck to be able to open a back door safely. Two firefighters opened the back door and deployed and 1 ¾” line to extinguish any flames in the basement. Basement entry was shallow and cautious due to safety concerns. The fire seems to have started on the B side of the house, but the flames traveled quickly to the rest of the structure. The entire first floor of the home suffered severe fire damage. I advised the homeowner the structure was unsafe and asked her not to try to go in. Upon interviewing the homeowner, she stated she got up around 3:30AM and was going to cook egg rolls in oil. She turned the oil on and when it heated up it popped on the cabinets and caught fire. She tried to get to a fire extinguisher, but it just flamed up to fast. The owner also stated the cabinets were re-finished recently and that that could have been the reason,” Lt. Cantrell’s report concluded.