By By Adam Prestridge
For the fourth time in two weeks, an area family is coping with the loss of their home following a fire.
Friday afternoon around 2 p.m., the home of Elaine Day, located at 330 Katelyn Lane in Nokomis, erupted in flames destroying the mobile home.
"I saw the smoke across the field and went to my next-door neighbor's house and asked her if she knew where the smoke was coming from," Horseshoe Circle resident Jackie Presley said at the scene of the blaze. "She said she didn't know, so we just drove through the field down here. I didn't know if it was someone burning trash or what, so we came down here to check."
When Presley and her neighbor arrived at Day's home, it was completely engulfed in flames.
"We didn't have a phone, so we went to (Day's) sisters house up the road," Presley said.
Perdido Volunteer Fire Department was immediately dispatched to the scene. Within minutes, Perdido requested back up from the Nokomis Volunteer Fire Department and the Atmore Fire &Rescue Department, which was immediately dispatched to the scene.
Upon arrival, firefighters quickly began trying to douse the flames with water, but they had already reached the insulation in the roof of the mobile home making it nearly impossible to get it under control.
The Lottie Volunteer Fire Department was also called to the scene for use of its 3,000-gallon tanker truck.
"The fire departments got here quick," Presley said.
When firefighters contained the fire to the back half of the mobile home, family members were able to get to Day's backyard only to find that the family's dog was dead. Although the dog's death was unknown at the scene, the fire is believed to be the cause.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Officials at the scene said there is a slim possibility it could have been caused by lightning due to thunder prior to the fire, but a definite cause was unavailable at press time.