In spite of a notably quick response from county firedepartments, officials said a midday house fire destroyed a BogueChitto home on Flint Trail Wednesday.

The occupant of the hardwood home at 2277 Flint Trail was listedas Tara A. Caves. The house and contents sustained 100 percentdamage.

Lincoln County Fire Coordinator Clifford Galey said members ofthe family were at home when the fire started, and that they hadsaid they tried to put it out themselves. The cause of the fire wasnot immediately determined.

Also, a firefighter was transported to the hospital withheat-related illnesses as a result of fighting the blaze in thehigh summer temperatures.

Galey said Bogue Chitto Volunteer Firefighter Ben Williamssuffered from heat exhaustion and dehydration on the scene and wastaken by ambulance to King’s Daughters Medical Center, where he wastreated and released.

“He just got overheated,” Galey said. “They got him in theambulance and gave him an IV and got him some fluids and got him tothe hospital where they did some tests, and he came out allright.”

Firefighters said the call for the fire went out around 11:45a.m. and the Zetus fire truck arrived on scene at 11:53 a.m. Galeysaid in spite of the speedy response, there were several factorsworking against firefighters from the beginning.

“It was a very quick response, but I don’t know how quick theycalled 911 when they found the fire,” he said. “The 911 call alwaysneeds to go out first.”

In addition, firefighters said there were several vehiclesparked close to the home that had to be moved so that the gasolinein their tanks would not ignite.

But more than that, Galey said, the problem became water.

The home had been burning long enough when the first truckarrived that just the 1,000 gallons of water it carried was notenough to knock back the blaze until other units reached thescene.

“For the water they had, they did an excellent job, but it takesa little time to get the water there when the call is that farout,” he said. “Again, it doesn’t matter how small you think a fireis, your first call should be to 911 to get someone en route. Thequicker we can get there the quicker we can put the fire out.”

Members of the Bogue Chitto, Zetus, Hog Chain and Loyd StarVolunteer Fire Departments battled the blaze for about two hoursbefore it was quelled.

Galey said Red Cross was called to assist the family.