By Nathan Hardin
nhardin@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY — A space heater started a mobile home fire on Vivian Road Tuesday morning.
No one was injured in the home, which is just behind Bostian Elementary School on Old Beatty Ford Road, but fire investigators called the residence “a complete loss.”
Deborah Horne, a fire investigator with the Rowan County Fire Marshal’s Office, said a family of three lived at the home but were staying with a friend for the night.
The fire started just after midnight, she said.
The family “had been doing some renovations to the house,” Horne said.
Part of the home’s flooring had been pulled up during the renovations and the heater was brought in to provide additional heat.
Horne called it a “miracle” that the family wasn’t there because the heater was between the bedrooms of the parents and their 2-year-old child.
“It would have cut them off from being able to get to them,” she said. “It’s just a miracle they weren’t there.”
Volunteers from the Elizabeth Hanford Dole Red Cross are assisting the family.
Donations are being handled by the Red Cross at 1930 Jake Alexander Blvd. W.