Barbour Co. family loses home in Friday blaze

A fire fighter walks away from a trailer that caught fire Friday afternoon on Tyson Road in Clayton. Fire fighters from Louisville and Clayton fought the blaze.

By Patrick Johnston
Published: June 23, 2008

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It was a phone call that Carolyn Birmingham didn’t want to hear.
She was at work early Friday afternoon when the call came. Her home was on fire.
Birmingham drove to her home to find fire fighters battling the blaze. Unfortunately, her home was destroyed. She lost most of her possessions and several hundred dollars in currency. The only good news was that her five children, ages 15, 14, 13, 12 and 4, were OK.
“They smelled some smoke,” Birmingham said Friday when recounting what happened. “My oldest son went to where it was coming from, and it was from behind the dresser.”
The trailer was located on Tyson Road, off of Highway 30 and just a couple of miles from downtown Clayton. According to Ronnie Benefield of the Barbour County Sheriff’s Department, it appeared that everything in the trailer was destroyed.
“It’s pretty much 100 percent gone,” he said.
Barbour County Sheriff Leroy Upshaw said Friday it appeared to be an electrical fire. Benefield said that the children quickly evacuated the trailer and called for assistance. The fire was reported to Barbour County E-911 just after 1 p.m. Clayton and Louisville fire and rescue squads responded to the fire, but by then the trailer was engulfed.