Warren Ferguson's alarm clock sounded at 6 o'clock Monday morning.
He walked into the living room, grabbed the remote control to turn on the TV and then saw the house next door explode into flames.
"You could feel the heat," he said. "It was already intense within a matter of seconds."
One floor below, Teresa Vaughan couldn't sleep. She was in her living room when she heard a loud noise, turned, and saw the fire stretching toward the sky.
"It just lit up," she said.
Both Vaughan and Ferguson were on the north side of their building at 1515 Third Ave., right next to the fire. And both began running through the halls, trying to make sure their neighbors could get out.
"I heard it and I jumped up," Vaughan said. "I was beating on the walls, beating on the doors."
As Vaughan ran upstairs, Ferguson ran past her trying to get the word to the neighbors downstairs.
Everyone came out OK.
"If she hadn't been there, no telling what would have happened," said Dave Parker, who lives with Vaughan.
Parker has lived at the boarding house about two years. He said his clothes, jewelry and wallet were left behind. "I heard glass popping. The glass burst out," Parker said. "I figured it was time to go."
Vaughan said she, too, lost everything.
The fire alarm sounded around 6 a.m., said Eddie Hall, battalion chief for Columbus Fire & Rescue.
The house at 1519 Third Ave. burned to the ground, and the houses on each side, at 1515 and 1523 Third Ave. also caught on fire, as did a small cottage behind the house at 1519. All three homes are on the National Register of Historic Places.
Hall said four members of the first crew of firefighters went into the burning houses to check for other people. "Everybody that lived here is accounted for, but you don't ever assume anything," he said.
About 30 to 35 firefighters responded to the fire, along with two ladder trucks, two squad trucks and ambulances.
Only one person was treated. Deborah Jones began having asthma problems and was taken to The Medical Center emergency room. Hospital spokeswoman Marion Scott said Jones was admitted Monday afternoon for observation.
A few hours after the fire, a bulldozer was tearing down most of the remains of 1519 so that it wouldn't become a safety hazard.
As of Monday evening, fire investigators had not yet determined if the fire was arson or an accident.
"We definitely want to find out what started this," Hall said.
Fire investigator Ricky Wadkins said there was no electricity or any other utilities turned on at the house where the blaze started.
"The house was vacant. It's possible it could have been vagrants. We don't know," Wadkins said. "We haven't decided if it was an accidentally set fire or an intentionally set fire."
Vaughan said there were at least 15 homeless people living in the woods behind the three houses. The area was also known for drug activity.
Hall said the investigators sent samples to the crime lab to check for gasoline or anything that would be suspicious. That could take anywhere from two weeks to two months to get back, he said.
Jeff McCrary is the owner of the three buildings, along with two more on that street. He said about 15 people were staying at the two houses and the cottage.
Damage was estimated by fire investigators at between $250,000 and $300,000.
HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE
The three homes are all on the National Register of Historic Places, the country's official list of places worthy of preservation. They are part of Columbus' High Uptown Historic District, formed from houses owned by some of the most affluent people in Columbus in the late 1800s and early 1900s
The house at 1515 Third Ave., the Elisha P. Dismukes House, is a 1902 two-story clapboard Queen Ann house with a cross gable roof, gable returns and a one-story porch. The house was owned by Dismukes, who was president of the Georgia Manufacturing Company in Columbus, the Georgia Buggy Company and Dismukes Grocery. Recently, the house was being used as a boarding house.
The house at 1519 Third Ave. is a 1909 clapboard Queen Anne house with a hipped roof and a one-story porch with Corinthian columns. The house was once owned by John Bleecker, general manager of Columbus Railroad Company, then owned by Robert Dismukes, president of the Home Building and Savings Association. The house was recently vacant while undergoing renovation.
At 1523 Third Ave. is the William L. Cooke House, a one-story Georgian cottage with Classical Revival elements including columns and the transom. Local physician Cooke built the house for his family around 1922. Recently, it was being used by at least one family.
"It certainly is a tragedy that those two houses are now gone," said Elizabeth Barker, assistant executive director of the Historic Columbus Foundation.
"It's just another loss of our history in Columbus."
