Weakley Co. firefighter puts skills to work during fire in his home

GREENFIELD, Tenn. — The smoke alarm went off around 3 a.m. Friday in Lt. James Stone’s home, caused by what the Greenfield Fire Department believes to be a lamp fixture that shorted out.

Lt. Stone wasn’t the first to hear the smoke alarm.

“My wife, actually. She’s the one who heard the alarm and started kind of nudging me to get up because she thought it may have been my pager going off,” Lt. Stone said.

The sound was no pager but rather the smoke alarm signaling that their house was on fire.

“I got up, went and checked, looked out the door. Of course smoke started coming, rolling in,” Lt. Stone said. “I looked out and seen that there was fire in our living room area. It was kind of ablaze, so I immediately shut the door back real quick.”

Using a window to climb out of the house to escape the fire, Lt. Stone and his wife made it out safely with no injuries.

This would not be possible had Lt. Stone not done one simple thing — closing the door.

“Both of us would not be here today had it not been for that and the combination of the smoke alarm,” Lt. Stone said.

Closing the door protected them from the flames, but it couldn’t protect their house from the damage it received. What’s left of the house is charred from the fire.

If you would like to help Lt. Stone and his wife, contact him at jstone@simstrucking.com.