By Shavonne Potts
Salisbury Post
Roland Futrell lost it all, but he is just glad to be alive after fire destroyed his home near Peeler Road.
“I’ve lived here all my life,” Futrell said Wednesday afternoon as wind whipped around him in the mid-30s temperatures and firefighters did their work at 280 Garden Lane.
Multiple fire departments battled the blaze at the single-level, wood-frame house, which started sometime after 3 p.m.
Rowan County Fire Marshal Tom Murphy said late Wednesday that investigators believe an overloaded electrical circuit caused the fire, which started in the living room.
Futrell, who has lived alone since his wife, Rebecca, died about a year ago, was not in the house when the fire erupted. He had gone outside to feed his dogs.
“I wasn’t gone five minutes,” he said.
It was the dogs’ barking that alerted him to the fire.
When he went around to the front of the house to see what had the dog’s attention, he saw the flames pouring out his picture window.
He tried to go back inside to call for help, but the massive flames kept him at bay.
At the same time, neighbors Edwin and Barbara Sprinkle, who check on Futrell from time to time, spotted the fire.
“My husband called 911,” Barbara said, standing with Futrell.
The couple have lived across from Futrell, at 215 Correll Loop, for the past six or seven years.
Once the fire was extinguished, firefighters sifted through the charred home looking for hot spots, or hidden fire, said Chief Deputy Darrell Nichols, of the South Salisbury Fire Department.
Before Murphy determined the cause of the fire, Futrell said he assumed it was somehow started by his heaters.
Futrell said he heated the house, which was built in 1960, with two kerosene heaters and an electrical one. One of the kerosene heaters was in the living room and the other in the den. The electrical heater was warming the kitchen.
Futrell said he’s always used the heaters and had them turned on low.
The Locke, Faith, Granite Quarry and Bostian Heights fire departments and the Rowan Rescue Squad also responded.
Contact Shavonne Potts at 704-797-4253 or spotts@salisburypost.com.