I was taking a nice nap on December 4th when the sound of sirens whizzing by my house woke me up…I jumped up and heard even more sirens approaching and then heard the dispatch on the scanner, Sullivan Fire Department responding on several calls, one of which was a structure fire on the South Service Road west of town. I grabbed my camera and headed out the door, got Onyx secured in the truck, and headed west…saw heavy black smoke toward Bourbon, five miles west of Sullivan, and called Jim Bartle, the newspaper editor I shoot for, and he was already on scene, house and garage fire at 775 Chestnut in Bourbon. From the looks of the smoke and the wind that was really blowing stuff around,  the fire was rocking and rolling…I arrived a few min later, parked on the shoulder and ran up to where Jim was standing and shooting….and yes, one could tell, it was and had been, rocking and rolling…

..it was obvious that it had ripped through the house at least halfway before firefighters stopped its advance, and they were knocking down fire in both east end of the house and the garage next to it when I arrived…..fighting the fire in these photos from Sullivan FD are Corey Rice in the red helmet and Nick White….

…initially they had their hands full, moving back and forth between the fire in the house and the garage as well…..

…when they were hitting the garage flames, one of Bourbon`s firefighters was knocking down fire in the house again…

…soon after, more firefighters showed up from both departments and Cuba and Leasburg arrived as well, to assist in overhauling both buildings to extinguish the fire, as it was a very windy day and no hotspots needed to be left to re-ignite the structures….

…Sullivan also responded with a brush truck as flames spread by wind from the structures to a brushy area behind the garage…great work by all who were there that day !!