By Kevin Spradlin
PeeDeePost.com
ROCKINGHAM — A kitchen fire consumed much of a Rockingham home early Tuesday morning, displacing a local nursing home worker and her adult son.
Kevin Spradlin | PeeDeePost.com
Rockingham Fire Chief Harold Isler was called away from the city’s annual budget retreat at Hinson Lake at approximately 8:49 a.m. as he and fellow firefighters responded to a report of a structure fire in the 100 block of South Broodwood Avenue.
Upon arrival, firefighters saw flames coming from the kitchen area of the white, single-story home and, Isler said, “heavy smoke” from throughout the home. Isler deployed firefighters to attack the blaze from inside the home. The flames were extinguished within minutes — neighbors praised the response by firefighters — and the home was searched for hotspots. Officers with the Rockingham Police Department also responded to the scene, as did volunteers from Northside Fire Department through a request for mutual aid.
Robin Brown said she’s rented the home, owned by Frank Boyd, for about two years. She went to work at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday at Pruitt Health, formerly Rockingham Manor. Brown said she did not cook in the kitchen before heading to work. She told Isler there were no known electrical issues within the home. Brown said she does not have renter’s insurance and was unaware what, if any, insurance Boyd had on the home.
Kevin Spradlin | PeeDeePost.com
Robin Brown breathes a deep sigh — of relief, of trepidation and of grief — as she watches Rockingham Fire Department personnel battle a kitchen fire in her home.
Isler said the cause of the fire is undetermined. The investigation continues.
