Warren County firefighter Neal Pryor saves family home

An early morning vehicle fire at a residence on China Grove spread to a nearby single-family structure and threatened the family home.

Just after 5:45 a.m. Vicksburg Warren 911 reported a vehicle fire threatening a structure in the 900 block of China Grove. Warren County firefighter Neal Pryor and others responded. The Warren County Fire Service is an all-volunteer force, meaning when the call went out, Pryor had to get dressed, rush to the nearest station, get Engine 305 (a fire truck), and safely drive the large and heavy fire engine to the fire scene. Pryor was the first to arrive and immediately reported the homeowner’s truck was fully engulfed in flames.

Pryor, the only unit on the scene at that point, put on his turnout (the heavy fire protection suit), drug a line off the truck, turned on the pump and charged the line while reporting that the house had also caught fire, with smoke coming out of the attic.

Hunter Ivey, a 911 dispatcher and Warren County firefighter, was the next to arrive on the scene. He safely evacuated the two residents of the house and then began assisting Pryor. Ivey quickly reported that the house fire was out, and the truck fire was under control.

Watch our live report here:

Other units and firefighters began to arrive on scene including Hayden McDougal who took command and Engine 209 driven by Jeff Riggs who immediately hooked up a water supply line to the first truck on the scene driven by Pryor. The next arriving units, including Cedric Martin, began to assist in ensuring the house fire wasn’t hiding embers in the attic that could later be rekindled (a process called overhaul). The truck continued to flare up with hot spots and was attacked by the units that had, by that point, relieved Pryor.

Neal Pryor, sitting to the left, after putting out the house fire and getting the truck fire under control. Photo by David Day

Timeline:

5:48 a.m. – dispatch calls out the fire

6:01 a.m. – Pryor arrives on the scene

6:04 a.m. – Ivey arrives and clears the residents out of the house

6:06 a.m. – Ivey reports the house fire is out and the truck fire is under control

@6:30 a.m. – the fire is reported to be out

Neal Pryor and son, a future firefighter.

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The Warren County Fire Service is an all volunteer group of your fellow citizens who give their time to assist their neighbors in their greatest hour of need.

If you would like to become a Warren County firefighter the first step is to contact Warren County Fire Boss Jerry Briggs, who also started out as a volunteer, at 601-218-9911. Call or text him and he will explain the next steps to take. Training is free and everything is provided for you. You will be given more responsibility as you are trained and become ready.