Five people were displaced when fire destroyed their home Thursday afternoon on Self Creek Road in Oktibbeha County.
The fire broke out about 1:30 p.m. in the laundry room area in the center of the house at 2201 Self Creek Road and quickly spread to the attic, Adaton-Self Creek Volunteer Fire Department Chief Lynn Crow said.
Firefighters from Adaton-Self Creek, Bell School House and Central Oktibbeha volunteer fire departments arrived on the scene and encountered flames and a roof which was “falling in,” Crow said. The blaze was under control by about 3 p.m., Crow said.
Frankie Reynolds, wife Amanda and family friend Mallory Roach had just arrived home with their two small children at about 1:30 p.m. and heard smoke detectors going off in the kitchen area, Roach said. The group and their dog evacuated the house without injury.
As the families sat in the shade of a nearby tree Thursday afternoon, firefighters put out hot spots in the charred frame of their former home.
“We lost everything,” Roach said.
Red Cross representatives responded to the scene and planned to provide food, clothing, shelter and other necessities to the group, said Paige Roberts, interim director of communications for the Red Cross in Mississippi. As of Thursday, the Oktibbeha County chapter now falls under the jurisdiction of the Tupelo Red Cross office, not Meridian, as previously planned, but the Oktibbeha office is still open and responding to disasters for the time being, Roberts said.
“Even when we”re working through this (statewide realignment) process, the commitment of the Red Cross is the same,” Roberts said. “We”re going to fulfill our mission and that is to help respond to and prevent emergencies.”
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