A nice evening for arson

Firefighters asses the situation after arriving at 303 Lowell Ave. just off of Wilkinson Blvd. near McAdenville to find a mobile home fully engulfed in flames on Friday March 23, 2012. McAdenville, Lowell, New Hope and Belmont Fire Departments responded to the blaze, which was brought under control quickly with no injuries. Gaston County Police were called to the residence earlier in the day for a domestic, and the fire marshall is now indicating the blaze may be arson. 

Sometimes preparedness pays off. Friday night I had just gotten into my car to leave work when I heard a structure fire dispatched. The address caught my attention. It's the same address where police were called out to a domestic a few hours earlier.

This could be interesting, I though.  

And, as luck would have it, I pulled up on this fire right behind the first fire engine. I was standing there camera ready as they assessed the situation (above) and began fighting the fire (below). 

It's a good thing too; mobile homes fast. It was probably less than 25 minutes from when the first dispatch about the call came out to when the fire was more or less under control. 

Firefighters begin attacking the blaze.

Training Burn

Brandon Crank, right, and Charles Morrow with the Gastonia Fire Dept. keep a fire under control after conducting training in the abandoned house on S. Firestone Street on Thursday March 1, 2012. Loray Baptist Church, which owns the property, plans to clear the lot and convert it to a community garden.  

I love taking pictures of training fires. I get to acknowledge my inner pyro, take some cool pictures and at the end of the day I don't have to feel bad that someone lost their home (or worse). 

I think the firefighters feel the same way. 

In any event, I found an easy feature and only got a little sunburned from the fire. 

Ashes

A family photo lies in the ashes of a mobile home on River Loop Road just outside Belmont that was destroyed by fire on Sunday December 11, 2011. Five people were seriously injured due to smoke inhalation. 

Goble Street Fire

A firefighter lifts a burning trash can from the remains of an unoccupied house on Goble Street that burned to the ground around midnight on Saturday October 23, 2010.

Fatal Fire

Emergency responders tend to Alicia Addie Ledford, 24, and two of her children Brianna Marie Reyman, 6, left, and Kaylie Ann Reyman, 1, outside their home on Millon Street in Gastonia on Thursday Sept. 16, 2010.

A fast-spreading fire engulfed the family's home, killing the children's 73-year-old grandmother and sending the remaining six members of the family to the hospital. Grandfather Bernard Cornelius Reyman, 75, and a third child Quentin Alexander Reyman, 4, below, were listed in critical condition at the University of North Carolina Hospital's burn center in Chapel Hill.

Read the full article about the fatal fire.

Firefighter Saves Puppy

Rocky Mount firefighter Frank Bandy tends to a puppy rescued from a burning mobile home on Biltmore Place early Sunday. After more than 15 minutes of effort, Bandy and other first responders were able to revive the motionless animal.

Read the full story.

North Myrtle Beach Wildfires

Above and Bottom: Fire fighters from three departments check for hot spots at the site of a home destroyed by fire on Swift Street in North Myrtle Beach after wildfires swept through roughly 20,000 acres just outside the grand strand of North Myrtle Beach on Thursday April 23, 2009, destroying some 70 homes and damaging many more.

As of Friday evening, SC Forestry believes the fire to be 60 percent contained, although more homes remain at risk. A yard fire that was not adequately extinguished some six days ago is believed to be the cause of the blaze, and one individual has received two citations for burning violations connected with the wildfires.

Below: Wildfires continue to rage in Horry County in the early morning hours of Friday April 24 as South Carolina Forestry Commission workers do their best to control the spread of the flames (second from bottom).