The Memorial Day weekend was a busy one for the Newton County Fire Department, which ran a total of 68 calls from Friday evening through Monday evening.

Of those calls, seven were for structure fires, three of which were total losses. The first occurred Saturday around 1 a.m. on Cornish Mountain Road. Firefighters arrived within five minutes of the call and found the home fully engulfed. With the nearest fire hydrant roughly a mile and a half away, the 10,000-square foot home was a total loss in both property and contents. Homeowners were out of town for the holiday weekend at the time of the blaze.

As firefighters cleared the scene at the Cornish Mountain Road fire, a call came in of another house fire roughly 15 miles away on Harville Road. Much like the first call, this 1,200-square foot home was also fully engulfed when they arrived to the home and its contents were a total loss. The home was occupied at the time of the fire but the residents were out of town.

The third total loss call came Sunday around 12:45 p.m. at a home on Veal Road. The structure was a total loss and the residents had been home but had left to go shopping when neighbors reported the home was on fire.

The Newton County Fire Department also handled 38 medical/EMS calls, 13 brush fires, eight accident with injury calls and two other/agency assist calls over the three day weekend.