Marcia Yearsley credits neighbor Abraham Phillips with critical support in responding to a fire that ravaged a home at 6 Hazel St. where her brother, Steve Yearsley, lived.
Yearsley said her brother’s water pipes had frozen when temperatures dropped about 39 degrees in eight hours on the night of Dec. 22. “That freeze was so brutal,” Yearsley said. “It was completely bizarre how it dropped so quickly.”
Yearsley said her brother was under the house using a 250-watt light bulb and hairdryer to thaw water pipes around noon Dec. 23 when a spark caught the paper backing of insulation on fire. He initially tried to extinguish the fire with snow and, when that wasn’t successful, went to his neighbor’s house. Phillips returned with a fire extinguisher.
“After they were unable to extinguish the fire, Abraham ran home to call the fire department,” Yearsley said. “Steve tried to re-enter the burning home to get his dog, Tater, who weighed only two pounds. Steve’s jacket was on fire and he appeared to be in shock. Abraham pulled Steve out of the burning building. In my opinion, Abraham is a hero. I believe he saved my brother’s life. I think it is a miracle that Steve is alive. He could have easily perished due to smoke inhalation.”
Yearsley said when the fire department arrived, the water hydrant was frozen and a pump truck that carries water also was initially frozen. Neighbors estimated it took about an hour-and-a-half before firefighters could access water to fight the fire.
Eureka Springs Fire Marshal James Cowan said firefighters were able to overcome the problems and extinguish the fire despite the extreme cold and gusty wind.
Yearsley expressed gratitude to another neighboring property owner who helped. She said David Petit carried five-gallon buckets of water to help.
“David was very supportive,” Yearsley said. “He helped calm Steve down. The firefighters were amazing. It was the day before one of the largest holidays of the year and they had an incredible number of firefighters respond in the extreme weather. There were 15 to 20 firemen including a number of volunteers. The ambulance workers were great, too. They monitored Steve for about an hour in the ambulance. It was a huge community effort. We are grateful for everyone who helped out.”
Yearsley said she bought the home, built in the 1950s, from Jan Quint in the 1990s. She said the house had been modernized, and measures had been taken after the polar vortex in 2021 to replace pipes and make them more resistant to low temperatures. But even with water dripping inside, the pipes froze.
Yearsley said her insurance adjustor told her that the fire may have spread so quickly because of some dry rot in the home’s wood.
Hazel is a narrow, one-way street. Cowan said that their firefighters are trained to operate firetrucks on the narrow, hilly streets common in Eureka Springs.
“We have the smallest vehicles that will do the job that can get around here because of the uniqueness of our layout,” Cowan said. “Our employees driving those firetrucks on these narrow roads do a very good job with what we have.”
Cowan said normally fire hydrants don’t freeze until it is about -10°.
“We are not sure why that particular hydrant froze,” Cowan said. “The water lines are supposed to be at least 18 inches deep but in a lot of areas you get into limestone near the surface. There were some issues with freezing water, but they overcame those and were able to put the fire out. In addition to our paid staff, we had a number of volunteer staff and mutual aid from Holiday Island, as well.”
Cowan said the cause of the fire is still under investigation, but weather conditions are believed to have been a major factor.
Yearsley said she was very grateful that in addition to putting the fire out, the firemen were able to quickly turn off gas to the house preventing what could have been a another disaster.
“They got the gas off fast,” she said. “If they hadn’t done that, it would have been much more dangerous. They got the electric off really quickly.”
That afternoon there was about a two-hour power outage affecting hundreds of Eureka Springs residents. Cowan said usually a fire doesn’t affect that many other customers. One resident reported hearing a power transformer blow on Main Street, but it is not known what caused that. The regional electric power distributors were asking people to conserve electricity use that day because of a strain on the grid due to demand.
Yearsley said it is odd that portions of the home including a deck and screened porch didn’t burn. The metal roof is still partially intact. She said if the home had still been covered by the original cedar shake roof that was on it before she replaced it with a metal roof four years ago, the house probably would have been a total loss. She plans to rebuild the home.
Tater is presumed to have perished in the fire. Yearsley said she posted a photo of Tater on social media and received 300 condolence messages.