Fire Destroys Lower Twin Home

A fast-moving fire swept through and destroyed a single-family home early Monday morning on Lower Twin Creek.

Firefighters from the Vancleve and Jackson Fire Departments were called to 30 Sword Drive on November 17 at 8:15 a.m. to the report of a structure fire near the head of Lower Twin Creek.

According to the report, Deana Sword was traveling out of the hollow when she noticed smoke coming from the back of her daughter’s home.   

Sword drove up to the home and discovered that a small fire had started in a dog kennel near the back of the house, had spread to the home, and had also ignited a nearby truck.

She alerted her daughter, Alyssa Sword, and Sword’s three-year-old stepdaughter, Tylie Morris, who were sleeping in the house.

All three managed to escape the house, which was already in flames, and called 911.

The Vancleve Fire Department requested mutual aid from Jackson, and fire crews arrived at the remote scene about fifteen minutes later. 

The flames, fanned by high winds, had completely engulfed the mobile home, and the structure was a total loss.

Alyssa Sword, the owner of the home, and her stepdaughter escaped the home without shoes but managed to throw several birthday presents out the front door.

“Today is Tylie’s third birthday,” Allyssa Sword told firefighters.  Fire crews found and saved one of the presents that had been thrown out into the yard.  The other had already caught fire and burned from the intense heat.

 Tylie’s father, Tyler Morris, was working in Wyoming and not at home at the time of the blaze.

Fire crews remained on the scene for several hours, preventing the fire from spreading to the nearby woods and cooling a nearby propane tank to prevent an explosion.

 The flames also destroyed a Dodge Ram truck parked behind the home.

According to fire officials, the blaze is believed to have originated from a heat lamp installed in a dog kennel adjacent to the home and subsequently spread to the back wall of the structure.

One family cat was unaccounted for following the blaze.

Fire crews gathered and sang "Happy Birthday" to the three-year-old girl as she opened her only remaining present.

Moved by the scene, the firefighters took up a donation and, with the help of the Jackson Walmart and others, purchased several birthday presents and a new bicycle for Tylie’s third birthday.

“You just can’t stand there and see that,” a firefighter said.  “I knew we had to do something.”

Crews called and invited Tylie Morris and her family to stop by the Jackson Fire Department, where they presented her with some birthday gifts “to help make the day better.”

Family members said that Alyssa Sword had recently gotten the home and that the family did not have insurance at the time of the fire.