BY JOANIE MORRIS
SALISBURY POST

SPENCER – The weather played a role in a Saturday morning house fire on North Salisbury Avenue here.

“We were very lucky,”said Sam Morgan, Spencer fire chief.

Jay Baker, a firefighter with the Spencer Fire Department, was taking his son to Steve’s Barbecue for breakfast on Saturday morning when he drove past the home of Joe Mewbourne, 1025 N. Salisbury Ave.

“(He) happened to ride by the house and seen the smoke coming out of the eaves of the house,”Morgan said.

The fire started around the fire place when cracks in the mantles mortar allowed the hot fire to get to the wood beneath it.

“It caught the wood on fire and got up in the walls,” Morgan said. He added that they shut off power to the house as a safety precaution and an electrician was called.

Morgan also said they called the Red Cross to help the family.

“There wasn’t a whole lot of damage,” he added. “Most of the fire was contained to that front living room. Water did get down in the basement, but we are trained to use as little water as possible.”

He said that along with his fire crew, Millers Ferry Fire Department also responded to the fire.

Morgan said the weather played a role in the fire because the family had a fire in the fireplace continuously since the snow started falling.

The family wasn’t home at the time of the fire.

“You never should leave a fireplace burning and leave home,” Morgan said.

The National Weather Service predicts that Rowan County is in for more wintry weather early this morning.

Meteorologist Rob Handel said that they are expecting freezing rain, rain or sleet early in the morning. There is a 70% chance of the wintry mix lasting into the early afternoon.

He added that Monday to Wednesday look dry, with a chance of rain showers on Thursday.

“It doesn’t look to be frozen at this time,” Handel said of Thursday’s precipitation.

Contact Joanie Morris at 704-797-4264 jmorris@salisburypost.com .