Home, vehicles destroyed in fire
An investigation into the cause of a Thursday night fire at 70 Ridgeview Drive in Silver Creek continued Friday, but Rome-Floyd County Fire Marshal Johnie Evans said it appears to be some kind of accident.
The four occupants of the home were able to make it out safely, but the residence was a total loss — as were five vehicles, which had all of their tires burned off while parked in the driveway.
“It was apocalyptic,” Evans said of the appearance of the fire- ravaged vehicles.
The fire broke out around 8: 45 p. m. Thursday, and the home and vehicles were fully engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived, according to Battalion Chief Greg Abbott.
Evans said the homeowner Greg Solomon conveyed the fire started in the carport but he didn’t know exactly what was on fire.
However, Evans was unable to get much more from him before Solomon had to get out of the cold and head to a family member’s home for the night. He was waiting on Solomon to call him to find out more.
There had been reports of explosions at the scene, but Abbott said there were none while firefighters were there. He said the reports likely stemmed from people hearing the sound of the car tires exploding.
“They make a pretty good boom when they go off,” he said.
Abbott said he was unsure how the fire jumped to the vehicles. But Evans suspected the wind, which proved to be a challenge for firefighters through the night, as it started spot fires in the yard, could have played a role.
“There was a terrible cold wind last night, let me tell ya,” Evans said.
The wind was pushing the fire around and increasing its size, Abbott added.
The main crew of firefighters stayed on scene until around 4 a. m. Friday, Abbott said, and a truck stayed on scene for a fire watch through the morning. Firefighters from Station 10, off Wax Road, were called in Friday morning to put out the remaining hotspots in the charred remnants of the home.
American Red Cross of Northwest Georgia vol- unteer Keith Cheek, a disaster action team responder, said one of the home’s residents, Summer Solomon, is a blood services volunteer with the local chapter and he was working with her family to provide them assistance Friday.