A former Lincoln County supervisor’s home was nearly destroyedThursday in a midday fire that was fully involved when firefightersarrived on scene, authorities said.

Homeowner Bill Loving reported the blaze after he arrived homeat 12:19 p.m., firefighters said. The fire began in the brickportion of the 202 Main St. home that was half brick and halfwood.

“The house was fully involved when they got there,” Thibodeauxsaid.

Officials said family members told them that when Loving and hisdaughter arrived home, they noticed smoke coming out of the housearound a window air conditioning unit. When they opened the backdoor, the fire fed off the fresh air, firefighters said.

Capt. Eric Smith, who was on the scene, said the fire spreadthrough the house through the attic space.

“It started in the bedroom on the west end, the brick end, andit entered the attic,” he said. “There was a large attic opening inthe closet and it got up in there like that.”

Thibodeaux said the report shows approximately 85 percent damageto the structure and the contents of the home. Smith said parts ofthe east end of the house were still possibly salvageable.

“It could have been just soot and smoke damage back there.Hopefully they can salvage some of what was in that side,” hesaid.

Smith said the fire seemed to have started where a window airconditioning unit was plugged into an extension cord.

“It was pretty obvious it was accidental electrical,” he said.”It looked like an electrical failure due to the extensioncord.”

Officials estimated the window unit to be about 10 years old andsaid the age of the cord was undetermined.

Firefighters were on the scene until 4 p.m. monitoring andsecuring the structure and insuring the fire did not spring back upin spite of the heat.

Rookie firefighter Temarcus Lewis was taken to King’s DaughtersMedical Center and released after suffering extreme cramps from theheat.

Loving represented District Two as supervisor from 1988 from1992.