SUMNER — One of the oldest and largest homes in town burned to the ground in less than two hours early Friday morning, Dec. 1.
A fire of undetermined origin swept rapidly through the 104-year-old stately structure known locally as the Mitchener house.
“The town has truly lost a landmark,” said Sumner Mayor Jackson Webb. “Everybody in Sumner knew the Mitchener house. The entire community is devastated by this loss.”
Owned by Keith and Julia Mitchener Turnipseed, the three-story residence at 511 Walnut St. was constructed by Julia’s grandparents, the late Frank and Pearl Wylie Mitchener, according to her father, Frank Mitchener Jr.
“The house was built in 1913,” said Mitchener, 84, a Sumner planter and longtime member of the town’s Board of Aldermen, who grew up in the home that overlooked the western bank of Cassidy Bayou.
Mitchener confirmed that his daughter, his son-in-law, their son and a friend of their son were in the house at the time the fire began.
They and two family dogs were able to escape without injury after the friend, whom Mitchener said was up late watching TV, detected the fire and awakened the others just before 1:30 a.m.
“He was sort of the hero,” Mitchener said.
An older dog, described by Webb as an arthritic springer spaniel, was lost in the fire.
Webb, who lives two doors down from the Mitchener property and is a member of Sumner’s fire department, said the blaze spread quickly.
Webb said firefighters responded to the scene within minutes but that flames were already shooting through the house’s wood shingle roof. A persistent wind blowing out of the north helped to fan the conflagration, he added.
Webb said about one-dozen firemen from Sumner, Tutwiler and Webb fought to contain the blaze. Three outbuildings behind the house were spared any damage.
The cause of the fire is unknown, Webb said Tuesday, adding that officials did not contact the state fire marshal’s office because they had no reason to suspect foul play.
Asked about the emotional impact of losing his family's ancestral home, Mitchener politely declined to comment. Those feelings are just “too personal,” he said, adding, "I hope you understand."
