Hot Springs blaze claims brick home
HOT SPRINGS — A fire likely caused by a lightning strike shortly before 1 p.m. Thursday destroyed a multistory brick home in the Eastgate II subdivision in Hot Springs.
The city’s firefighters battled the blaze for hours in stifling summer heat.
Looking on as the flames consumed his home at 119 Winding Ridge St., owner Dragan Vicentic said he, his wife and two sons enjoyed their 11 years of living in the home that he helped build.
“It was my pride and joy,” Vicentic said, choking back tears. “It took 2½ years to build it.”
His 19-year-old son, Spencer, was working on a summer school class assignment when he smelled smoke coming from the attic and phoned his father, Vicentic said.
“I told my son to get out real quick and turn off the power and the breakers at the back of the house. Then I called 911,” Vicentic said.
He said when he arrived home, his neighbor had already called the Hot Springs Fire Department. Vicentic said he believes lightning struck the roof.
The National Weather Service issued a significant weather advisory for southern and central Garland County until 1 p.m. Thursday. At 12:17 p.m., Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm near Hot Springs. “Frequent cloud-toground lightning is occurring with this storm,” the statement said.
Neighbors comforted the family as they watched the efforts of firefighters. Nineteen firefighters, including some from the department’s recruitment class, helped extinguish the blaze.
Hot Springs Fire Chief Ed Davis said firefighters were sent to the blaze at 12:47 p.m. and spent more than two hours getting the fire under control.
“There was a large amount of smoke coming from the area of the attic and ventilators,” Davis said. “The firefighters made an interior attack to try and stop the fire. They did a good job of putting the fire out on the structure’s right side, but the fire began to build to the center of the structure.”
Davis said that when the fire began to consume the roof of the structure, the firefighters were removed from the building.