The Carter Road home of Walthourville Mayor Pro Tem Patricia Green was destroyed by fire early Wednesday morning.
Walthourville Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department Chief Terry Satterfield said that when his firefighters arrived, the wood-frame home was engulfed in flames.
A neighbor who lived across the street thought a brush fire had broken out, so she called 911 around 1:30 a.m. Upon further inspection, she said she noticed flickering light coming through a window and went to investigate. Around the back of Green’s house, the neighbor found flames shooting out of the structure.
 Walthourville Police Chief Tracey McFadden said that when Lt. Wade Long arrived to investigate, he saw the blaze and began knocking on the door to see if anyone was home. Fighters later learned that Green and her family were not inside at the time of the fire because they were on vacation.
Satterfield said the fire appears to have started in a circuit-breaker box in the home. The fire took several hours to put out, and officials consider the home to be a total loss.