A family escaped from a house fire on Delaware Avenue on Saturday afternoon, Nov. 14, 2015, and dogs and a sugar glider were rescued. Pictured above from left are Zaresa, Demetrion, Randy Word, and Akeyrha. Also pictured are two of the three dogs that live at the home, Scale, front, and Breezy, back. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Note: This story was last updated at 3:13 p.m.
A family escaped and pets were rescued from a house fire on Delaware Avenue on Saturday afternoon.
The fire was reported at 12:09 p.m. Saturday.
Resident Jessica Millette said a neighbor banged on the door and yelled: “Get out! Get out!”
She went to investigate and saw flames at the back door of the house at 401 Delaware Avenue.
“I yelled, ‘Get out! Get out!,'” Millette said. “There’s fire!”
Millette and her husband Randy Word and their three children, Zaresa, Akeyrha, and Demetrion, escaped. But they had to go upstairs from their basement home past the kitchen, which was on fire.
“There was no other way out,” Millette said.
Millette had a minor burn on a right toe, Word had injuries on both arms, and Akeyrah had a minor burn on her right foot.
“She ran through the fire in her socks, and it caught on fire,” Millette said. She said her shoe caught on fire when she tried to run through the flames, which were on the floor.
Word rescued the family’s pit bull mix Scale when it ran back into the house.
A visiting friend, Brandy Rodrigues, also escaped the fire.
A family escaped from a house fire on Delaware Avenue on Saturday afternoon, Nov. 14, 2015, and dogs and a sugar glider were rescued. Pictured above is Jessica Millette just after firefighters rescued a dog named Honey from a kennel in the back carport area. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Oak Ridge Fire Department Battalion Chief David Harrington said firefighters rescued the two other dogs that live at the house, Honey and Breezy, and a sugar glider. Millette said the dogs were in a kennel in the back carport area.
Harrington estimated the damage at about $125,000, although that number could change. He said the family won’t be able to return to the smoke-damaged house today.
The ORFD didn’t immediately know the cause of the fire early Saturday afternoon, but Harrington said there were flames in the kitchen and attic.
No one was home upstairs at the time of the fire.
The Red Cross was on its way to assist the family, Harrington said early Saturday afternoon.
Delaware Avenue was closed for about 2.5 hours at Disston Road as firefighters extinguished the fire, looked for hot spots, including by cutting a hole in the roof, and investigated.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
A family escaped from a house fire on Delaware Avenue on Saturday afternoon, Nov. 14, 2015, and dogs and a sugar glider were rescued. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
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Sandi Goldberg says
I am so happy everyone got out with only minor injuries. And Mr. Word, you are a man after my own heart. I have had pits since the 70’s and would go in a burning building to rescue my 9 year old pit. Kudos to you for your bravery even though some may feel differently. I am very sorry you lost your home but very happy that everyone, including your pets, made it out.