LYNCHBURG, Tenn. — Moore County Sheriff’s Lieutenant Deputy Dustin White was patrolling Turkey Creek Run in the northeast section of Moore County on Sunday afternoon when he noticed something odd — smoke beginning to billow in the distance, so he decided to check it out.

“I was about a mile away and it had just quit raining,” Deputy White says. “I thought it was odd that someone would be out in the weather burning something. It was also darker smoke, but it had not gotten heavy yet.”

When he arrived, he spotted a barn belonging to the Hankins family nearly completely inflamed and immediately called it in. As he waited for local firefighters to arrive, he grabbed a garden hose and started spraying the detached garage to prevent the flames from spreading.

Nobody was at home when Deputy White arrived on scene. Homeowners Daryl and Ivy Hankins had stepped out to make a quick trip to Lynchburg. As they approached their home, Daryl says they spotted Deputy White running back-and-forth across the property with two garden hoses actively trying to to fight the fire.

Daryl immediately started removing anything flammable from the garage while his 15-year-old son, Mason, grabbed buckets of water and tossed them on the house to prevent the fire spreading. The Hankins 17-year-old daughter McKenna also pitched in removing gas jugs and a side-by-side from inside the garage. Ivy helped too though she spend the majority of her time consoling 11-year-old Avery, whose momma goat had just delivered triplets four days earlier.

Within minutes, the Metro Moore County Volunteer Fire Department’s John LaCook and Jason Estfon arrived in their personal vehicles followed by firefighter Scott Parks with Engine #3, which is housed just down the road on Tankersley Ridge Road.

“When we got there, the barn and chicken coop were fully involved and the attached greenhouse was mostly involved. The flame were lapping underneath a lean-to headed toward the shop and two-car garage,” LaCook said.

LaCook says without Deputy White’s quick thinking, the garage would have been a total loss and the house likely would have been damaged. LaCook says modern building material contains more plastics and petroleum-based products and synthetic materials making rapid response times even more crucial.

Likely caused by a heat lamp

Daryl says he suspects one of the goats accidentally knocked over a heat lamp in the barn being used to keep the days-old kids warm in the frigid temperatures.

“I don’t know if one of them knocked it over or what happened but that was the only fire source that was in the building,” Daryl says.

In total, the fire destroyed the barn and a chicken coop that the family build together and a storage area. It also burned more than half of a custom-built timber greenhouse. The garage experienced smoke and heat damage but firefighter were able to stop the fire before in spread to the main house.

Both Ivy and Daryl say that appreciate Deputy White’s “gut instinct” to check on the property and his efforts to fight the fire before help arrived.

“It was kind of outside of his wheelhouse to start hoses to try to cool it down before the fire department got there,” Ivy said. “You know, it was pretty amazing.”

“We know how lucky we are,” Daryl added. “We know that that it could have been a lot worse. There are people who — here locally and even lately — have dealt with their houses burning. And, you know, what we had to deal with was minor compared to that. But we’re appreciative and really proud of the community that jumped in for us.”

In addition to Lieutenant Deputy White, and MCVFD Chief Engineer LaCook, Lieutenant Estfon, and Captain Parks, Deputy Maygan Silavong, Paramedic Dwayne Clark, EMT Avery Hardin, Firefighter Medics Kris Gagnon, Jason Deal, and Hunter Case, as well as MCVFD Captains Tommy Primus, Jerry Dickey, and Lieutenant Matthew Lendley also responded. Other local fire fighters responding were Chad Burton, Robert Braford, Brad Anders, Chris Dickey, and Cain Owens. Mutual aid in the form of water and manpower were provided by the North Franklin Volunteer Fire Department.

The scary but not tragic event is a testament to the teamwork of local public safety officials and power of community here in Moore County. •

About The Lynchburg Times: We’re independent, reader-supported, and proudly homegrown. We hold the history, relationships, and journalistic craft to deliver professional reporting from one of America’s tiniest and most famous towns. Because of that, there are some stories you’ll only read in The Lynchburg Times. Every dollar of reader support stays right here in Moore County, funding local writers, photographers, and storytellers. When you support The Lynchburg Times, you’re not just backing a local newsroom — you’re preserving the art of storytelling in the South. [Join us here.]