HAHIRA —
After losing so much to the tornado that struck the interconnected county lines of Lanier, Berrien and Lowndes earlier this year, Lisa Pfouts moved to a Highway 122 residence.
On Tuesday morning, fire destroyed this home.
Pfouts was at her Ray City residence earlier this year when the tornado struck and caused a great deal of damage, she said.
Tuesday morning, when fire struck her residence near Hahira, she was working at Smith-Northview Hospital. She has been a nurse for 22 years.
As Lowndes County firefighters extinguished the blaze, Pfouts stood with neighbors in the driveway of her 5522 Highway 122 East residence. She said she needed no help. Lowndes County Fire Capt. Ken Carter said the residence is insured. The cause of the fire was officially undetermined at the scene, though Pfouts said it may have been electrical.
No one was injured in the blaze, but the residence and Pfouts’ furnishings, clothing and other property are considered a total loss.
Firefighters received the call shortly before 8 a.m. Tuesday. Station 10 responded, along with firefighters and trucks from stations 4, 5, 7, and Moody Air Force Base, Carter said.
Though the county has a mutual-aid agreement with area municipalities, the Hahira Fire Department was not called to the scene despite its relatively close proximity. The fire occurred in an unincorporated area of the county.
The county would request mutual aid in cases where county firefighters are handling other emergency calls, or if life were in paramount danger, or if the call may save property, said Paige Dukes, Lowndes County clerk and public information officer. Also, the county, for example, does not like to assume another municipality’s agency will finance the cost or liability of answering a call outside of its specific jurisdiction.
Regarding Tuesday’s incident, the fire was reportedly fully involved by the time of the call.
The fire was considered fully extinguished around noon Tuesday.
For more on this story and other local news, subscribe to The Valdosta Daily Times e-Edition, or our print edition.
