Fireworks believed to cause house fire; residents safe
Thanks to the quick action of four Good Samaritans, three Faulkner County residents were able to escape from an early-morning house fire Monday.
At approximately 2:30 a.m., four men traveling to work in Vilonia noticed smoke rising from the duplex at 3A Pressly Drive near Sunny Gap Road. The men called 911 and attempted to notify residents by knocking on the door.
According to the victim’s granddaughter, the men managed to rescue an 81-year old woman and her 12-year old great-grandson from the residence. The men also removed the woman living next door in the duplex.
The men left the scene after members of the Liberty Volunteer Fire Department and Faulkner County Sheriff’s Office arrived.
Fireworks are the suspected cause of the blaze, according to the FCSO report. Officers on scene found several pieces of debris from fireworks, including bottle rocket sticks, on the roof and in the yard of the property. The victim stated that her next door neighbors had been shooting fireworks earlier. Officers found fireworks in the neighbor’s yard similar to the debris.
When questioned by authorities, the neighbor stated that they had stopped shooting the fireworks around 11:30 p.m. Monday night and that he was unaware of the fire.
According to Sgt. Dalton Elliott of the Faulkner County Sheriff’s Office, the investigation is on-going, and the fire is currently being ruled an accident.
(Staff writer Stephanie Fischer can be reached by e-mail at stephanie.fischer@thecabin.net or by phone at 505-1238. Send us your news at www.thecabin.net/submit.)
