SHOALS — Quick action by volunteer firefighters is credited with preventing major damage to a home in the Shoals community Sunday morning when a blaze started in a clothes dryer.

The incident was reported about 10 a.m. at the residence of Tim and Becky Benton and their two children, who have been temporarily displaced as a result. Their home is at 214 Border Lane, located off Quaker Church Road.

“When we got there, there was smoke showing from the eave and the back door,” said Adrian Wall, chief of the Shoals Volunteer Fire Department, which responded to the blaze along with Pinnacle and Pilot Knob firefighters.

“And then we found a working structure fire in the laundry room-kitchen area,” Wall said. “It was pretty much contained to that area.”

The firefighters’ response resulted in the blaze being brought under control in “just a few minutes,” said Earl Mounce, an assistant Surry County fire marshal.

Mounce said that while damage from the flames was confined to the one end of the double-wide home containing the utility room that caught fire, heat and smoke damage occurred elsewhere in the structure.

“They won’t be able to stay for now, anyway,” the assistant fire marshal said of the occupants, who apparently were all at church when the blaze started. The American Red Cross will provide assistance to the family until the home can be repaired, he said.

The blaze stemmed from a clothes dryer, but was not due to lint accumulation — a frequent fire cause related to such appliances. “It was a mechanical problem with the dryer itself,” Mounce explained.

No injuries resulted among the firefighters.

Wall said he appreciated the assistance of all the volunteers who responded, which led to a team effort that allowed the structure to be saved.

“When the homeowner brags on you, you feel like you’re doing good,” the Shoals fire chief added.

Contact Tom Joyce at tjoyce@mtairynews.com or at 719-1924.