Jul 31, 2008

Dale Akers must be thinking if he had no bad luck, he’d have no luck at all. Akers was seriously injured in a motorcycle wreck in Ava last Wednesday night, and on Monday, while he was in the hospital recovering from his injuries, fire broke out in his house on NE 5th Ave. Fortunately for Akers, Ava Police officers Denny Hall and Reggie Johnson were parked near the home waiting to conduct a funeral escort when Sgt. Hall noticed smoke coming from a window. He went around to the east side where he saw smoke coming from the eave of the house, and immediately had the fire department dispatched. Firemen arrived within minutes and extinguished the flames in a short time. Ava Fire Chief Eddie Maggard said the fire was burning in a paneled wall in the living room, and was just ready to really take off. Had it not been for the alert reaction of the officers there most certainly would have been more extensive damage in the house. Emergency responders feared for the life of a dog known to be in the residence, but she, too, was able to escape when firemen opened the front door. It is believed the fire started from an electric fan that was left on in the house. Maggard said it appeared the fan fell over and the motor overheated. The fire then traveled up an interior wall of the house. Structural damage was limited to that wall, although the entire residence sustained extensive damage from heat and smoke. Ava Rural Fire Department responded to a vehicle fire just west of Ava on Highway 76 Tuesday night. No other information on that fire was available at press time Wednesday.