A woman who had just moved into a rental home in northern Hall County lost most of her possessions in a Friday afternoon fire.

Hall County Fire Services responded to the blaze on Indian Circle in North Hall at 2:41 p.m. after being alerted by Harry Forrester, a neighbor who lives across the street from the rental home. Forrester reported that he could see smoke billowing out of the windows of the home. 

According to Capt. Zachary Brackett, first responders “witnessed heavy fire involvement throughout the entire attic and first floor of the residence.”

Firefighters began extinguishing the blaze, which had started to engulf the roof of the structure, after determining the residence was unoccupied.

Brackett said efforts to fight the fire were hampered by outages in several of the nearest fire hydrants. Ultimately, water was used from a hydrant located at the intersection of Shirley Road and Crooked Creek Road, nearly 2 miles away.

The current renter of the residence, Pamela Tanner, said that she had been gone less than two hours, getting an oil change for her car, when she received a call alerting her of the fire.

“I thought it was a joke at first,” Tanner said.

Tanner had been living in the residence for less than two weeks, and was still in the process of moving in boxes.

She estimates that the majority of her possessions were likely lost, and that she had yet to be covered by renters insurance.

“I lost all my little girl’s toys. Those can be replaced, but I lost pictures, and those can’t be replaced,” Tanner said. 

There were no injuries during the incident. As of now its cause and origin are still undetermined.