A local resident escaped with only the clothes on his back after an early morning fire completely destroyed his house Wednesday.
The home of longtime teacher Sammy Nunley has been classified as a total loss by North Warren Fire Chief Matt Welcome. The home was located on Robin Hood Drive in the Wayside community.
“The flames were through the roof by the time firefighters arrived,” said Welcome. “If anything can be said about this it’s that he was woken up by a smoke detector so they do save lives.”
Welcome said firefighters received the call at 1:48 a.m. Wednesday. According to Nunley’s daughter, Carolina George, her father was awakened by a smoke alarm and discovered a piece of upholstered furniture on fire. He tried to push the burning furniture out the door but was unsuccessful. The fire then spread rapidly.
“He literally escaped with the clothes on his back,” said George. “He didn’t even have shoes on. Firefighters had to pull him from the garage because he was trying to save some of his stuff. He had some yearbooks and trophies in there he didn’t want to lose.”
George said the Red Cross is paying for two nights at a motel and also provided him a gift card to buy clothing. George has also set up an online fund through the Give Forward website. The fundraiser had already received $560 in donations as of Thursday morning.
The direct link is: www.giveforward.com/fundraiser/khf7/the-sammy-nunley-fire-recovery-fund.
Nunley was a 30-year educator with the Warren County School System. He taught his first year at Irving College before teaching his final 29 years at Dibrell.