Firefighters extinguish massive Raleigh house fire
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- It took firefighters from five departments nearly six hours to clear the scene of a two-story house fire in North Raleigh.
The fire sparked around 3:00 p.m. Sunday afternoon in the 7000 block of Potomac Court.
"We found heavy fire in the garage area, it was totally engulfed in flames and the flames were advancing up the side of the house and into the interior of the house," said Don Adams, the Assistant Fire Chief of the Bay Leaf Fire Department.
The couple that owns the home was inside when the fire started but managed to get out in time.
In fact, Adams credits one of the homeowners with making sure the damage wasn't worse.
"We credit him with saving a lot of his house and personal possessions because he determined his garage was on fire and he shut the door back," Adams said. "When he did, it kept the fire confined."
The couple is fine, physically, and staying with neighbors. However, at least one firefighter had to be taken to the hospital.
"All I can tell you is that he is conscious and doing good," said Adams.
Eyewitness News is still working to learn what caused that firefighter to need medical attention, but it's a sign of just how tough the fight was.
Firefighters faced two big challenges in battling this fire. The first was the lack of fire hydrants near the home. They had to go back and forth about a mile for the nearest water source.
The second challenge was that the home was built recently.
"In modern houses, there are a lot of what you'd say corners and knee walls and fire gets up in these areas," said Adams, "a lot of times the fires are very difficult, they're behind other walls we have to tear out to be able to get to. So it was difficult getting to this fire."
Neighbors tell Eyewitness News the couple is fairly new to the neighborhood and had only moved in over the summer.
Eyewitness Dale Martin ran over to the home as soon as he heard flames popping.
"We've never had a large fire like this is our neighborhood so it's sort of a shock," Martin said.
The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Wake County Fire Marshall, though Adams did confirm the fire started in the garage.
