An early morning fire destroyed an Oktibbeha County home Wednesday, but it didn’t hurt any residents.
Oktibbeha County Fire Coordinator Kirk Rosenhan told The Dispatch the Central and District 5 volunteer fire departments responded to a structure fire on Oliver Jackson Road shortly after 1:30 a.m.
The residence was fully involved upon arrival. Rosenhan said firefighters ultimately put out the fire, but the home was a total loss, and two cars were burned up in the blaze.
He said no injuries were reported in the incident.
An investigation is ongoing into the cause of the fire.
Lori Carpenter, with Oktibbeha-Starkville Emergency Response Volunteer Services, said the agency helped the couple that lived in the destroyed home after Wednesday’s fire. OSERVS provided the couple with three nights in a hotel, food cards for local restaurants and some money cards from Walmart.
Any donations for the couple will likely have to be organized elsewhere in the community, as Carpenter said OSERVS doesn’t focus on that aspect of recovery.
“We’re not going to turn someone away if they brought something — we’ll get it to them,” she said.
Brian Kelley, with Eat Local Starkville, knows the couple who lost their home. He said they owned the house, but didn’t have fire insurance and have lost everything.
Kelley is organizing a donation drive, which is taking donations at Restaurant Tyler on Main Street in downtown Starkville. The restaurant is taking clothes, gift cards or monetary donations for the couple.
For women’s clothing, the restaurant is requesting size 9 shoes, size 10 pants and large shirts. For men’s clothing, the restaurant is requesting size 15 shoes, size 56 pants and size 3XL shirts.
Kelley said donations are being accepted whenever the restaurant is open. Restaurant Tyler is open 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 5-10 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday.
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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