One hospitalized after half-acre fire
Published 3:48 pm Friday, December 8, 2023
GOLD HILL — One person had to be transported to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries after a half-acre fire in a stretch of woods spread to an outbuilding and vehicle near Gold Hill.
The fire likely began in the woods in the 200 block of Morgan Road when the property owner was burning and the flames spread, according to a fire official on the scene. The property owner then tried to escape the fire but fell, leaving them inside the smoke. Inhaling the smoke left them with serious but non-life threatening injuries to their throat, necessitating their transport to the hospital.
The fire spread to a nearby outbuilding and vehicle, the fire official said. Firefighters from multiple departments were then able to extinguish the fire before it escalated any further, but the building and vehicle were both destroyed. Firefighters initially responded to the property around 2 p.m. and were released around an hour later.
Gold Hill Volunteer Fire Department was the first on the scene. West Liberty, Rockwell Rural, Union and Northeast Cabarrus fire departments and Rowan Rescue also assisted with the efforts.