Hall County firefighters were kept busy Friday on one of the coldest day in several years.

While the temperatures hovered around freezing much of the day, firefighters battled two house fires Friday morning, including a Lula fire in which seven occupants escaped unharmed, and another in fire in the afternoon.

Around 6:15 a.m. Friday, firefighters were called to a 1,400-square-foot home in the 6500 block of Main Street in Lula. The house was nearly half-engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived.

Four adults and three children safely escaped the home after an occupant smelled smoke and alerted the others, Fire Chief David Kimbrell said. It does not initially appear that the home had smoke detectors, he said.

The fire is believed to have been started in a chimney. The occupants were burning wood in a fireplace to heat the home, Kimbrell said.

The home sustained heavy fire and smoke damage. Local Red Cross volunteers were called in to assist the residents.

Shortly after 10 a.m., firefighters were called to a house off Cleveland Highway that was fully engulfed when they arrived shortly. No one was home at the 1,500 square foot wooden-frame house on Greenwood Private Drive, Kimbrell said.

The fire was called in by a passerby on Nopone Road, Kimbrell said. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Shortly after 3 p.m., firefighters extinguished a fire at the 6600 block of Crestwood Peninsula.

Kimbrell said no one was home when the South Hall home caught fire, and a passer-by leaving Aqualand Marina called 911 after seeing smoke and flames rising above the trees.

Seventy-five percent of the home was on fire when firefighters arrived, and it took nearly an hour to douse the flames, Kimbrell said.

Because of the home’s location in the subdivision, firefighters had to shuttle water to the burning home from the nearest fire hydrant at Chattahoochee Baptist Church, Kimbrell said. The church is approximately a mile from the burning home.

The cause of that fire also remains under investigation.