The DeBusk Volunteer Fire Department responded at 3 p.m. on Friday to a fire at 1613 Whirlwind Road.

Regie Jones, chief of the DeBusk VFD, said the home owners had arrived home to find their residence filled with smoke.

"When our first units reached the scene, firefighters had to enter the home with air packs to search for the fire because of the intense amount of smoke and heat," Jones said.

"We found no initial fire and quickly turned the power off to the house. We called Bill Brown, director of the Greeneville-Greene County Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, to bring his thermal imaging camera to the scene to help search for the fire between the walls of the house.

"We then sent a two-man team under the home to search for fire and they immediately noticed a lot of smoke and heat under the home. They began cutting away part of the insulation of the home and noticed that a large area of the subflooring, cross beams and metal ducting of the home had sustained major fire damage.

"They also found multiple charged wires in and around the duct work leading back to the heat pump leading us to believe the fire was electrical in nature," Jones said.

A neighbor told firefighters that Greeneville Light & Power System employees had been working in the area after a power outage and that he, too, had suffered some problems with his electrical wiring in his home.

"After further investigation we believe the fire started shortly after the power was restored to the Whirlwind Road area and the fire had been smoldering for hours unable to gain enough oxygen under the insulation to really catch fire," Jones said.

"The fire heavily damaged the living room floor of the home and over 100 square feet of subflooring and all duct work had to be replaced."

The DeBusk VFD responded with one truck and nine firefighters and remained on the scene until 5:30 p.m. Friday, Chief Jones said.