A century-old home on Equen Plantation that is a landmark just north of Minter City erupted in flames and burned to the ground within two or three hours late Friday afternoon.
The wood-frame “big house” is believed to have been about 7,000 square feet and is owned by Kelly Wuestenhoefer, according to Bobby Norwood, Leflore County fire coordinator. He was alerted about the fire around 4 p.m., and volunteer firefighters and equipment from Schlater, Minter City and Money fire departments were dispatched.
No one was injured, and Norwood wasn’t sure whether the house was occupied when the fire broke out. A cause has not been determined.
When the firefighters arrived with two pumper trucks and three tankers, the house was “pretty much burned,” Norwood said. Firefighters were able to use a nearby hydrant. They worked to contain the fire from spreading to other buildings.
But when night fell, “it was like battling a big, huge bonfire,” Norwood said.
Smoke could be seen across fields and from nearby roads and highways. Christian Belk of Greenwood, a freshman at the University of Mississippi, was driving close by. He stopped around 5:40 p.m. to watch what was happening.
“The whole thing was just up in flames,” he said. “Nothing was really left but the chimney when I left.”
The farm bears the surname of the family that owned it and lived there for decades.
Betty Jane Fennell and her husband, Joe, live in the area. She drove over to the fire and took photos with her iPhone. Fennell said she and her family “just have a lot of memories” of the big house. She heard a story from her grandfather that the house once had been located elsewhere but that it was moved to another site by using logs and mules.
“It makes me sick,” Fennell said. “It has always been a part of our lives.”
- Contact Susan Montgomery at 662-581-7241 or smontgomery@gwcommonwealth.com.
