Graham’s fire department is crediting two chance passers-by with assisting in the initial response to a two-alarm fire that tore through one area home over the weekend.
According to the city’s fire department, these two young men noticed this devastating blaze at 719 Williamsdale Road as they were driving home on Saturday morning.
“[They] stopped to alert the residents,” the department went on to note in a statement later that day, “and the lone resident was able to escape the fire without injury. There is no doubt that the heroic actions of these young men saved a life in Graham today.”
These two men apparently helped evacuate the burning home even before the city’s fire department received an emergency call from neighbors at 6:25 a.m. According to the fire department, it took the first units roughly four minutes to reach the scene of the blaze, which has since been attributed to “improperly discarded smoking materials.” By 6:34 a.m., the fire had advanced to a point where a second alarm had to go out to bring in reinforcements.
[Story continues below photos from the scene – during and after the fire.]
By the time all was said and done, this inferno along Williamsdale Road drew fire crews from Graham, Burlington, Mebane, the E.M. Holt rural fire district, and office of Alamance County’s fire marshal. In the meantime, Elon’s fire department pitched in by providing routine coverage in other parts of Graham’s city limits, while personnel from Duke Energy and Piedmont Natural Gas were on hand to provide added support.
According to the fire department, the collective efforts of these departments and agencies brought the fire under control by 7:37 a.m. Firefighters nevertheless remained on site until 11:37 a.m. to wind down the operation and investigate the cause of the fire.
