Ice-covered roads slowed response times for the many firefighters called to battle a Beaver Dam Road blaze on Saturday afternoon. By the time crews from Pinetown, Bath, Bunyan and Pantego volunteer fire departments arrived, the fire in the two-story home had spread, but the family inside had managed to get out.

“They were able to escape before we got there,” said Pinetown VFD Capt. Doug Bissette, adding that the American Red Cross had been called in to help the family.

The call to 911 was made at 9:51 a.m. Saturday and the scene was not wrapped up until mid-afternoon. In addition to the fire crews, Pinetown EMS and officials with Beaufort County Emergency Services responded to the scene. Bissette said crews not only had difficulty getting there because of slippery roads, but once they arrived, they had more ice to contend with.

“One of our bigger obstacles was the road was iced over. We were setting up in the road and trying not to slip and slide,” he said.

Bissette said the home was an older farmhouse on Beaver Dam Road, near CC Boyd Road and, once again, auxiliary heating may have been the culprit.

“We know that the fire started near some space heaters. We think it was an electrical fire because of the space heaters — how they were plugged into the wall,” Bissette said.

On Wednesday, another Pinetown home — this one a single-wide mobile home — burned down after a space heater ignited nearby furniture.

Bissette said people using space heaters to combat the cold should be careful about where they’re placed and where they’re plugged in.

“Make sure that your space heaters have space and don’t necessarily plug them all into one circuit. They take a lot of current,” Bissette said.