Fire destroys RV, damages home
Published 5:11 pm Tuesday, June 26, 2007
A recreational vehicle caught fire next to a home in Hide-A-Way Lake and in turn caught the home on fire.
The recreational vehicle suffered major damage and the home suffered some damage.
The call reporting the fire came in a local volunteer fire department at about 9:30 a.m. after the engine of the RV parked outside of a home on Hill Top Dr., in Hide-A-Way Lake, caught fire. Nobody was harmed by the blaze.
“I’m glad they were out the house, believe me,” said neighbor Mary Hebert.
The owner of the home and vehicle, Tom Alfano, said he was attempting to start the vehicle to take it to have the hood and generator repaired. After he started vehicle and noticed it was trying to idle, he said he took his foot off the gas. That is when the engine died and smoke began to spill from under the hood.
On seeing this, Alfano said he got out of the vehicle tried to open the hood, but it would not budge. He said that if he could have opened the hood, he could have put out the fire.
“… you couldn’t see the fire coming out right away,” said Adelene Alfano, Tom Alfano’s daughter. “We just couldn’t get that hood open for nothing.”
Adelene Alfano said when she saw the fire coming from under the engine, she went to get a hose with which to battle the blaze, but the fire got away from them. Local volunteer fire departments responded, including Carriere and Hide-A-Way, and had the fire out at about 10:15 a.m.
Adelene Alfano said they were getting the vehicle ready for a trip to Birmingham, Ala., that they were planning to take in a couple of weeks. Her brother, Tom Alfano Jr., is scheduled to get an operation on his shoulder in Birmingham.
The side of the home where the vehicle was parked suffered some moderate fire damage, stripping the upper side of the home of its siding and exposing the attic.