By Sarah Nagem
snagem@salisburypost.com
Investigators were trying to determine what caused a fire at a farmhouse in West Rowan County Saturday night.
No one was in the home at 2035 Mt. Tabor Church Road when the fire broke out in the kitchen, said John Morrison, chief of the West Rowan Volunteer Fire Department.
Investigators found an electrical wire damaged outside the home of farmhand Mirna Guevara, Morrison said. The broken wire could have created an electrical surge inside the house that started the fire, he said.
“That’s my suspicions right now,” Morrison said.
Firefighters responded to the home around 8:50 p.m. and got the blaze under control in about five minutes, he said.
Guevara and her two daughters live in the two-story house, Morrison said.
Guevara milks cows on the farm, which is owned by Ernestine Hoffner and her family. Hoffner said Guevara and her daughters have lived on the farm four or five years.
One daughter, a teenager, is paralyzed as a result of an automobile wreck, Morrison said.
“She was hurt real bad in an accident a few years ago,” he said. “We’ve been out here several times on medical calls.”
No one at the fire knew where Guevara or her daughters were.
Although the fire started in the kitchen, Morrison said the stove was not to blame. The burners were turned off.
Most of the fire damage was contained to the kitchen, although other areas of the house sustained water damage.
Many of the family’s possessions in the bedrooms are salvageable, Morrison said.
He said the family had been in the process of moving into a trailer next to the house because the house was in poor condition.
The Cleveland, Wayside and Shepherds fire departments also responded.