In Thursday’s paper we wrote a story about a fire on Hines Road that caused extensive damage. The good news is that nobody was hurt, although decades of memories were likely lost in the blaze. Thankfully no one was home.

The Troup County Fire Department was able to get the fire under control in around 20 minutes, but there was still a lot of damage in that short time. The roof of the house had been burned through, and you could see firefighters spraying hot spots in the attic of the home.

The hero of the day was Whitney Rosser, who happened to see the fire as she drove past. She thought for a minute she might be seeing things, but instead she stopped, got out of the car and took a closer look.

Once she determined it was a fire, she sprang into action. She started beating on the door to try to see if anyone was inside and eventually ran next door, where the homeowner’s brother lived. He ran over and made sure nobody was home, but the smoke caused him to be out of breath. 

Rosser helped him out of the home and firefighters were on the scene soon after to put out the fire.  It would’ve been easy for Rosser to ignore the smoke, thinking she was seeing things, and to keep driving. Her actions were truly heroic. 

Thank goodness she was there to help and called 911.

If she hadn’t been, the house might’ve completely burned down.

Over the last few weeks, we’ve written about several home fires, including one on East Williams Street where a house was a total loss.

The recent fires are a reminder of why it’s so important to plan, just in case of emergency, and to have working fire alarms installed. If a fire happens in the middle of the night, you need something to wake you up and you need a plan so that every member of the family knows where to go.

The Troup County Fire Department responded to over 3,000 calls last year, and the LaGrange Fire Department worked another 4,661. Hundreds of those emergency responses were to actual fires.

Make a plan and be prepared, just in case.