Fire engulfs Hopewell home

Sue Williams sat on the ground and looked as the back side of her Hopewell Community home was engulfed in flames Wednesday night.

Fire crews from Andalusia and Hopewell responded to the 522 Jericho Road home, just off of Brooklyn Road, in time to put out the blaze in approximately 35 minutes.

Kenneth Sutton, Williams’s son, said his mother was in the kitchen cooking when she smelled smoke.

“She walked back through the house and it was on fire back there in the back room,” Sutton said. “She said the whole back room was engulfed.”

The Andalusia Fire Department, which assisted in the quelling of the blaze, arrived at the scene first and Chief Ethan Dorsey and company went to work straight away. Hopewell Volunteer Fire Department arrived on scene shortly afterward.

Firefighters fought the fire inside and outside of the home, concentrating their efforts on the back-left side of the house.

Williams’ husband, David, helped in the effort with a water hose to try and salvage the structure.

A tired-looking Dorsey said as of Wednesday night, the damage to the house was “pretty heavy.”

He said a cause hasn’t been determined yet.

Dorsey said he won’t know what the cause of the fire was until an investigation gets under way.

“This was out of our city limits,” Dorsey said. “They called us and we got here first.”

Dorsey said no one was injured.

As firefighters doused the remainder of the flames, the Williams salvaged what wasn’t damaged inside the home.

The APD, Advanced EMS, AFD, Covington County Sheriff’s Office and HVFD responded to the scene.