GRAHAM COUNTY — A candle is believed to be the cause of a fire that completely destroyed one house on East Nelson Place and damaged a neighboring home.
The fire occurred Thursday, Nov. 4, just before 7:30 p.m. When first responders arrived on the scene, the woman living at the house said she had a one-wick candle burning and left to go into another room. That’s when she noticed a glowing in the room she left and, when she returned, she saw a wall was on fire.
She told Graham County Sheriff’s deputies she tried to extinguish the fire with water and milk, but it had spread too far, so she left the structure. She said she didn’t have a phone, so she ran to a neighbor’s house to the east to call 9-1-1.
When Safford Fire Department arrived, the home was fully engulfed and a neighboring home to the west had caught fire. Safford Fire was able to knock down the fire on the neighboring home, which suffered damage to one side of the building and the attic.
The owner of the house lost to the fire was not at home during the blaze, as he was incarcerated in Graham County Jail at the time.
