POOLETOWN — A two story house in the 1200 block of Emerald Bay Drive on the lake suffered serious but isolated damage in a two-alarm fire Thursday morning.

The initial call came in at 5:14 a.m. according to Rowan County Emergency Services Deputy Chief TJ Brown, who said the second alarm was struck at 5:29 a.m.

According to Pooletown Fire Chief Ryan Barkley, the homeowner was the one who called in the fire. He told officials the family had been burning wood in the fireplace the day before, and Barkley said it appeared at some point the fire had breached the fire box, smoldering in the wall behind it for hours. Early the next morning, the homeowner heard the crackling sound of the fire in the walls and called for help.

The house is not a total loss, said Barkley, because firefighters were able to isolate much of the fire.

There was extensive damage to the attic and to the basement, he said, but the main living area “almost looks like there was no fire except for the water. It appears they will be able to repair it.”

Barkley added that firefighters had to cut out one of the beams in the roof because of the fire, but that meant they were able to fully remove that source of the fire completely.

“I’d never done something like that before, that’s pretty rare,” he said, but it gave firefighters a big assist in controlling the fire in the attic and roof area. Firefighters cut a hole in the roof and were able to remove the beam through the hole.

The origin of the fire, Barkley said, was determined to be the fireplace, but the cause remains under investigation, though there is no indication of anything intentional.

In addition to Pooletown, firefighters from Healing Springs (Davidson County), Liberty, Gold Hill, Rockwell Rural, Union, Millers Ferry, Granite Quarry and Franklin responded. The fire was deemed under control at an hour and a half.

The home was built in the 1990s and was one of the first to be constructed in the development.