By Shavonne Potts
Salisbury Post
Fire officials determined that a Sunday night fire which destroyed a Susan Lane mobile home began in the kitchen, where food was left cooking on the stove too long.
Firefighters responded to 260 Susan Lane around 8:40 p.m.
Ellis Cross Country Fire Chief Jeff Whitley said the single-wide mobile home “was fully involved when we got there.”
It was already 70 percent destroyed, he said.
“You could see through it,” Whitley said.
Resident Debra DeGrave, 43, was in the home by herself and had already gotten out when firefighters arrived. She told firefighters she’d left something on the stove and fell asleep.
Since the blaze had destroyed much of the home before they arrived, firefighters tried to keep it from spreading.
“We tried to contain it,” Whitley said. “We put water on it from outside.”
They also had to make sure the flames didn’t reach another mobile home located just a few feet behind DeGrave’s home.
“We didn’t know it was back there until the firefighters went behind the house,” Whitley said.
The second mobile home appeared to be empty and possibly used for scrap, Whitley said, since much of the metal was gone.
“It scorched it a bit,” he said of the second mobile home.
In addition to Ellis, the Franklin Fire Department also responded, along with the Rowan County Fire Marshal’s Office.
Authorities called the Elizabeth Hanford Dole Chapter of the American Red Cross to aid DeGrave.
Anyone who would like to make a donation to DeGrave can contact the Red Cross at 704-633-3854.
Donors will have to give their names and they will be passed on to DeGrave. It will then be up to the DeGrave to contact the donors directly, said Deborah Lineberger, director of emergency services for the local Red Cross chapter.
Contact Shavonne Potts at 704-797-4253 or spotts@salisburypost.com.