A Lowndes County family lost their home Friday morning.
Emergency crews responded to a fire at 9415 Ridge Road after receiving a call at about 7:55 a.m., according to county fire department Capt. Bill Connelly.
Within minutes county fire trucks arrived at the home, where Margaret Blevins and her daughter, Terresia Rush, lived. Neither of them were in the house at the time — Rush had left for the pharmacy in Starkville where she works, and Blevins had taken a family member to work.
“They called me and said ‘Your house is on fire,'” Rush, who immediately left work and drove home, said.
Smoke could be seen from Highway 45.
Friends and family gathered in the parking lot of a nearby gas station where Blevins’ brother, Arthur James Roberts, reassured them everyone who lived in the house was safe.
The smoke began to thin around 9 a.m. and family members were able to drive to the house not long afterward. At that time, smoke was still rising from the roof of the house and firefighters were still battling flames.
“[It] seems like when they put it out on one side, it starts back on the other side,” Rush said at the scene.
Andy Grant, an assistant chief with the county fire department, said the fire was difficult to put out. The flames had spread to multiple rooms. Firefighters were still busy at the scene after noon and had not yet been able to determine where the fire started or what caused it.
The fire completely destroyed the house.
“We lost everything,” Rush said.
Still the family was just relieved no one was hurt.
“No use sweating the small stuff,” Rush said, adding that the only things harmed were material possessions, a sentiment echoed by Blevins’ grandchildren who live next door.
“I’m just glad my mom wasn’t at home,” Rush said.
Blevins and Rush are staying with family. They are accepting clothes and anything else that members of the community can give them. Donations can be delivered at the 1898 Land Road in Columbus.
A fire crew from Columbus Air Force Base assisted the county in battling the fire. A total of five fire trucks, along with an ambulance and officers from the sheriff’s department, were at the scene.
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