Video: Oktibbeha County Family’s Home Destroyed in Morning Fire

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BY SHAUNTAY HINTON
shinton@wcbi.com

OKTIBBEHA COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) — It’s a somber Thanksgiving night for an Oktibbeha County family.

Their home went up in flames early Thursday morning as they were preparing for today’s meal.

“I’m just glad to be living,” fire victim Keith Cummings said. “And I’ll think about that later on. We are just trying to get this Thanksgiving Day over with.”

Thanksgiving is turning out to be anything but for Cummings and his family. They woke up to their double-wide manufactured home engulfed in flames.

“I was cooking at first, and I had laid down,” Cummings said. “I got back up and turned it back on, and I laid back down. When I woke back up, we just smelled smoke. The whole kitchen was in flames. We just tried to get everybody out of there.”

The East Oktibbeha and Bell Schoolhouse fire departments were dispatched about 5:30 a.m. to Willie Road off Rock Hill Road in response to the fire. The family of four was able to safely escape, and no firefighters were injured as they battled the blaze.

The departments set up a water shuttle operation with ample water to combat the blaze. The structure was heavily engulfed in fire by the time firefighters arrived.

The structure was considered a total loss.