By JOEL PHELPS | arkadelphian.com

An Arkadelphia family’s home sustained major damage Tuesday afternoon in an attic fire.

At about 2 p.m. the Arkadelphia Fire Department was dispatched to 909 S. 23rd St. after a caller reported smoke emitting from the home’s roof.

The address belongs to John and Paula McNeal, who have called the residence home for the past 8 years. Paula, who works down the street as a special education paraprofessional at the nearby Perritt Primary School, was at the school when coworkers told her that her home was on fire.

With friends and relatives by her side, Paula watched from across the street as firefighters from three agencies worked to extinguish flames that erupted through the roof and and sent skyward plumes of thick smoke at various points of the attic.

The McNeal home was heavily damaged in the fire just days before the Christmas holiday. Fortunately, no one was inside the residence, and nobody was injured.

Firefighters from the Arkadelphia Fire Department, Caddo Valley Fire Department and DeGray Fire Department responded and were on scene for more than an hour to contain the fire.

An exact cause was not immediately known.