Oak Grove house gutted by accidental kitchen blaze

Earl Jackson said his home on Cecilia Drive in the Oak Grove community of Whitley County wasn’t even two years old when it was gutted by fire Tuesday afternoon.
His wife, Donna, was cooking when flames began to flare. She tried to splash water on the blaze, but that just made things worse, igniting a portion of the house and spread quickly.
“She called me at work. My boss told me I need to get home. They said the house was on fire,” Jackson said. “By the time I got here, it was already coming out of the roof.”
Jackson said his wife was able to get out of the house with the couple’s four kids before anyone was seriously injured. One of his children did get a slight burn on the hand on the way out.
Firefighters from Oak Grove, Woodbine, Three Point and West Knox Volunteer Fire Departments worked frantically in the sweltering heat to extinguish the blaze which tore its way through most of the homes living areas, spread into the attic and pushed up through the roof.
Jackson said he’s got homeowners insurance, but he doesn’t know if it can replace everything in the house.
“I just bought all brand new furniture to put in there … a brand new living room suit, two brand new bedroom suits and three new TVs,” he said. “I’ve got insurance, but I don’t know if it’s enough.”
Friends, neighbors and family watched helplessly as firefighters tried to put out the blaze. Distraught, Jackson said that in the short term he doesn’t know what his family is going to do … where they are going to live.
“I don’t know right now,” he said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”