In the early morning hours of Saturday, January 11, 2020, the 100+ -year- old home located at 412 W. Main Street in Winnfield was hit by lightning, engulfed in flames and destroyed. The homeowners Ronnie and Oline McCain escaped the home with their “furbabies,” a few guns and the clothes on their backs.
According to their son Paul McCain also of Winnfield the Winnfield Fire Department responded immediately, within a few minutes of being called. “Everyone came out safely and that’s what is most important,” stated Paul. Paul also expressed that there has been a out pour of support for his parents and that they are in no immediate need of anything.
Update – The Winn Parish Journal recently spoke to Winnfield Fire Department Chief, Brian Montgomery regarding the fire. According to Chief Montgomery, The Winnfield Fire Departments’ response time was four minutes from the time of the alarm to the time on the scene, the fire department never tried to hook up to the hydrant closest to the home because they were aware that it was out of commission. Twelve fire personnel responded to the fire and they remained on the scene for six hours. Wind gust contributed to the intensity of the fire and upon arriving on scene the fire department had to make decisions very quickly. After evaluating the scene and determining that everyone was out of the home the next priority was to prevent damage to other property in proximity to the fire. The fire department achieved this objective as no other property was damaged. Chief Montgomery explained that during the fire the home experienced a flashover which is basically an explosion inside the home once everything inside reached a certain temperature at the same time. “Thank the Lord there was no one inside the home when that happened. No one could have survived without serious injury if they would have been inside at the time that occurred,” stated Chief Montgomery.
Chief Montgomery expressed that the only consolation to that type of loss is that there were no lives lost.
Image credit Marie Simmons via Facebook
