A Wednesday morning fire destroyed a 4,300-square foot house at 229 Rob Belue Road. The Commerce, Nicholson and Jackson County Correctional Institute fire departments responded to the scene.
Commerce fire chief Keith Whitfield said the entire west side of the house was fully engulfed when firemen arrived. Rob Belue Road runs of U.S. 441 about a mile below the Commerce city limits.
"It's gone, totally gone," said a tearful Elaine Buice, who owns the residence.
Mrs. Buice said she was at a doctor's office when her husband called her and told her about the blaze. She rushed home to find the carport, bedroom and living room already consumed. She was trying to find her dog, Little Bit, who stays in a pen under the carport.
"He's old and blind and we put a heat lamp in there to keep him warm," she said.
The Buices live in Staghorn Plantation Estates, Nicholson. Randy Buice, Mrs. Buice's brother-in-law, was living at the residence, but Mrs. Buice said she and her husband used the house to store many of their belongings. No one was at home when the fire broke out.
"We bought the house in 1982 and we built onto it," Mrs. Buice remarked. "It's home."
She lamented the loss of the irreplaceable items — baby clothing, a plant that once belonged to her grandmother, photographs.
"We've got some of the most beautiful antiques in there you've ever seen," she added.
The house is insured.
"I'm just thankful no one was hurt — no one was in it," Mrs. Buice said. "That's the most important thing."
The cause of the fire has not been determined. Whitfield said the Commerce Fire Department and the State Fire Marshal would work to determine the cause once the building was cooled off enough for an investigation to begin.
