House demolished in fiery blaze
Staff reporter
A 100-year-old house burned to the ground early Thursday morning.
Marion Fire Department received a call at 3:30 a.m. from neighbors that a house owned by Ronald Lee Cotton Jr. at 127 Billings Street, Marion, was on fire.
"When we got there the house was fully engulfed," said Marion Fire Chief Mike Regnier. At that point, firefighters took defensive action to prevent the fire from spreading to other properties.
The Cotton house faced north at the end of Billings Street. West of the house was an outbuilding and a dilapidated house. The outbuilding owned by Cotton also was damaged but not destroyed. The abandoned home on the Cotton property was not damaged.
Just north of the Cotton house is a house owned by Melvin Honeyfield.
Honeyfield said he woke up around 3 or so and was startled to see what appeared to be daylight coming through his bedroom window.
"I got up to look outside and saw the neighbor's house on fire," he said. "It looked just like a fire ball."
The heat from the fast-moving fire was intense. The fire department sprayed the Honeyfield house to prevent it from burning.
"Luckily the trees and grass were green," said Regnier, "and there was no wind."
Firefighters remained on the scene most of the morning, dousing hot spots with water.
When the smoke cleared, all that remained of the structure was part of an east wall, a brick chimney, and the metal frames of a washer and dryer.
A fire marshal inspected the ruins Thursday morning, said Regnier, but was unable to determine a cause due to the total destruction of the house.
No one was at home at the time of the fire and Cotton had insurance, said Regnier.
According to the records of Marion County Appraiser, the property was valued at $4,410 for the land and $2,980 for the buildings. The parcel contains 1.31 acres.
