Fire threatened Ringgold homes

RINGGOLD — A fire at Wilkerson Road and William Drive burned several vehicles kept at a garage and threatened homes Thursday afternoon.

The blaze resulted from a controlled burn that went out of control due to winds, said Walter Henderson, ALS firefighter and commander with Ringgold Fire & Rescue. The fire originated from land along Wilkerson Road and spread through trees to the back of property on William Drive owned by Lewis Bennett — including Bennett’s Garage and the Bennetts’ home.

The fire escalated at around 1 p.m. Firefighters from companies in Ringgold, Kentuck, Keeling, Laurel Grove, Mount Hermon and Blairs responded.

“We (were) in the basement working and heard a lot of popping,” said Alexander Lee, owner of Dr. Lee’s Home Repair in Chatham, who was remodeling a home nearby owned by Ruth Chaney, a retired school teacher, when the fire reached Bennett’s property. “It could’ve been a whole lot worse than it was.”

Chaney said she was inside when she also heard popping. At first she thought it was landscapers and other contractors working on her home, but the noise intensified. Chaney went outside and saw black smoke and flames shooting from the treetops, she said.

Virginia Bennett, Lewis’ wife, said: “It sounded like somebody was shooting a gun.”

Somebody had knocked on her door and told her to call the fire department, but someone already had, she said.

Keith Woods said he was playing basketball at a home across the street when he heard popping and saw smoke.

“I saw... flames as high as the trees,” Woods said.

At about 2 p.m., eye-stinging clouds of smoke dotted with debris drifted from the trees behind Bennett’s Garage while firefighters from six county agencies sprayed the flames with water. Residents, including Bennett, pitched in to help.

Smoke billowed from an old Ford Escort and other vehicles in Bennett’s lot while he doused them. Most of the cars were abandoned, but four were drivable, said Bennett, who had been called from his job as a security officer at Danville Regional Medical Center.

Bennett said he couldn’t tell how many cars were damaged or destroyed because the smoke was too thick for him to count.

“It burns your eyes,” he said of the smoke.

A foot of dried leaves had been piled beneath the scorched trees. “It burned like kerosene (was) on it,” Bennett said of the leaves.

Henderson walked by and expressed thanks “to the good community of Ringgold” for their efforts in squelching the fire.

Around 2:30 p.m., Henderson said: “It’s contained now, just a lot of mop-up.”

Bennett has had the garage since 1964. Fiery debris landed on its roof and that of his home, but firefighters quickly extinguished it, Henderson said. Fire had crept to within a few feet of Bennett’s home and a pickup truck parked behind it.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Bennett said around 2:30 p.m. while firefighters and community members mopped up the blaze.

Crane is a staff writer for the Danville Register & Bee.