By Hugh Fisherhfisher@salisburypost.com
EAST SPENCER ó Fire destroyed a home on the corner of West Broad Street and Cedar Street Sunday evening.
Flames were pouring from the Tillman home at 948 Cedar Street by the time firefighters arrived.
Numerous 911 callers reported heavy smoke coming from the house.
Bystanders walked from surrounding streets and formed a knot of about 35 people along Broad Street.
One person at the scene said he believed the fire began in the chimney.
LaBrian Tillman, one of the residents, didn’t indicate how the fire began.
But, he said everyone got out of the house safely.
Tillman stood, shocked, as firemen sprayed down the remaining flames as a plume of smoke rose into the dusk.
“That’s our home; that’s where we grew up,” he said.
It took half an hour to extinguish the bulk of the flames.
East Spencer Fire Chief Darin Dearth declined to speculate about the cause of the blaze, saying only that the fire was “under investigation.”
Long Street was closed for three hours while fire crews battled the blaze.
East Spencer, Miller’s Ferry, Union and South Salisbury fire departments responded to the incident, as well as Rowan County EMS.