Fire Destroys Mill Branch Home

Firefighters from the Watts-Caney and Jackson Fire Department responded Tuesday afternoon to the report of a home on fire at 1401 Mill Branch Road at Lost Creek.

When crews arrived, they found heavy smoke and flames coming from a single-wide Oakwood mobile home. 

According to witnesses and neighbors at the scene, a neighbor drove past the home and noticed dark smoke coming from a front window of the structure.  The neighbor alerted the fire department and attempted to see if anyone was at home. 

Fire crews worked quickly to extinguish the blaze, but the flames, heat, and smoke had spread through the structure, causing severe damage to the home of Kenneth Watts.  A total of five people, including four small children, lived at the home.

“Luckily, the kids were at school, and nobody got hurt,” a neighbor said.

Officials believe that the fire started in some clothing piled on a couch near the front door.  No cause has been determined for the blaze.

The fire was in the Watts-Caney Fire District, but firefighters from Jackson answered the call for mutual aid.  Fire crews worked for more than two hours on April 1st to ensure that the flames were completely out.

Heavy damage from the fire and especially the smoke flames made the home unlivable.