A local resident, 58-year-old Vera Green, is sharing her recent tragic experience to warn others of her mistake and to seek help in getting her home and life back together.
On the evening of Feb. 8, Greene was in her residence on Providence Road preparing to make dinner when she was distracted by the phone. After finishing the conversation in a back bedroom, she opened the door and was met with a “wall of fire.” She immediately fled her home and was forced to leave behind her two dogs.
Just four minutes after the 911 call, Burton and Beaufort/Port Royal firefighters arrived on scene. Burton Fire Engineer Nick D’Angelo described the intense smoke covering Providence Road and the black smoke rolling from the front door as the fire truck pulled up in front of the home. Firefighters extinguished the fire and rescued both of Greene’s dogs, who were uninjured.
The fire damage was confined to the kitchen, but there was smoke and heat damage throughout the home. Greene has no insurance, and after a month her home, which she still lives in, remains damaged from fire as she tries to make repairs on her own.
With the recent time change due to daylight saving time, firefighters remind citizens to change the batteries in their smoke alarms. As part of this program, Burton firefighters were assisting Greene by installing four new smoke alarms in her home when she said she wanted to tell others about her avoidable tragedy, and to possibly seek help with repairs to her home.
Greene told firefighters her two biggest regrets she wants people to know are not having working smoke alarms at the time, which would have warned her early about the fire and allowed her to react before the fire grew, and not having insurance, leaving some of her possessions lost forever and her home still damaged from the fire.
Anyone who would like to offer help for Greene or needs help with their smoke alarms can email safetyed@burtonfd.org or call Capt. Daniel Byrne at 843-986-4852.
