Residents evacuated by water, used garden hoses against inferno
Some residents of Four Seasons Villa Resort, 301 Kleinshore Road, had to be evacuated by private boat Saturday night as a fire ripped through a row of townhomes in the gated community, as other property owners tried in vain to use garden hoses to stem the raging inferno.
Four townhomes were destroyed in the blaze, and three more have varying degrees of fire and smoke damage. Although the exact cause of the fire has yet to be determined, residents believe it began under a car parked in the carport of one of the homes.
“Craig (my neighbor), his wife and daughter were talking to me out in the back (of the house) and my wife came running out of the front because someone had knocked on my side door saying the fire was in my house. We all ran around the front, and that’s when I grabbed my garden hose,” homeowner Monte Dilick said Sunday.
“I went through my screen porch area, that’s no longer there, dropped (the hose) over and tried to spray the house. It was so intense; the wood was just like kindling. It just went up like it was nothing,” he said.
Dilick’s house was built sometime during the 1940s, so the old wood that was used for the home’s foundation apparently doomed the home from the first spark. The four homes that were destroyed were close to each other — so close that resident Sandra Luman said a long wooden deck connected three of them.
Luman had just finished remodeling her
own home weeks prior to the devastating fire. Her neighbor, Tina Haney, was planning on doing the last of her moving Sunday. Haney had been living in the house for several weeks, working on permanently moving herself and her family into their lake house, once used as a vacation home.
“This was devastating and traumatic. A lot of our belongings were already inside the house; irreplaceable items, like baby photos of my kids, are just gone. We’re devastated, but the most important thing is that no one was hurt,” said Haney.
Pillars of smoke still rose from large piles of debris the next morning as homeowners assessed the extent of the damages under the light of day. Charred bits of wood and warped pieces of metal were scattered about the road, as CenterPoint Energy and Entergy Arkansas Inc. worked to secure to secure gas mains and power lines.
The extreme heat melted cars parked too close to the flames and melted siding and doors of surrounding houses. Even the needles of a tall pine towering over the property were discolored as a result.
“It was hot, so so hot. You couldn’t stand to be on the patio of my house because of the extreme amount of heat,” said Craig Davis.
Dilick and Davis both attempted to fight the fire with garden hoses before quickly discovering they were no match for the flames that would soon engulf multiple homes. Once they realized that, they began dousing surrounding townhomes with water and alerting their neighbors to evacuate immediately. Some residents were able to flee in vehicles, but the majority of those living in the area were essentially trapped; the only available escape route being by boat.
People passing by on boats began to stop at the docks near the homes when they realized the townhomes were on fire. For nearly 30 minutes, Lane Stovall, his uncle and two men he works with were helping alert those in nearby homes and evacuating them via boat.
Stovall and his uncle were returning to their cars after viewing the fireworks on the east side of Lake Hamilton when they saw smoke and an ominous glow coming from Kleinshore Road. As a member of the American Red Cross, Stovall said he knew he needed to stop and help in any manner he could.
“I was just doing what I though should have been done. I was dropped off on the dock and started on what I guess was the south end, just knocking on doors, trying to get people out. My co-worker, Robby Shultz, was doing the same thing from the opposite direction,” said Stovall.
Residents called the collected effort from first responders heroic, noting the diligent effort they exerted while trying to save what they could. Red Cross volunteer Keith Keck was also on scene, offering a canteen service to first responders and assistance to seven people living in the four homes that were destroyed. Keck estimated they provided $1,200 in assistance.
“We provided emergency assistance in the form of housing, food and clothing to those affected. In a fire disaster like this one, we provide two nights of housing in a hotel, money for things like food and clothing if it is needed as well as referrals to local charitable agencies,” said Debbie Ugbade, disaster assistance community liaison with the Red Cross.
Residents are now looking to plan out their next moves as far as where to go and the property’s future is concerned. Dilick, who has lived in the area for roughly 11 years, has no plans to relocate. A disaster that could have easily destroyed morale has brought this already close-knit community even closer.
“It is an absolutely horrible thing to have happen, but what we still have is our beautiful view and wonderful community,” said homeowner Pam Bell.