EAST FORSYTH — A family of four lost their home in a fire early Thursday morning in southeast Forsyth.

Forsyth County Fire Division Chief Jason Shivers said the house at 2687 Buford Highway (Hwy. 20) near Chamonix Drive, was destroyed by the blaze, which started about 3:45 a.m.

Shivers said the flames had nearly engulfed the entire single-story, detached home by the time firefighters arrived.

“It was significantly involved, to the tune of approximately 80 percent, when we arrived on scene,” Shivers said. “It was brought under control within 45 minutes.”

Shivers said the exact cause of the blaze remains under investigation, but isn’t thought to be suspicious.

“It appears it’s likely accidental due to comments from the homeowner, relative to using a space heater,” he said, noting that the residents were unharmed and will be staying with relatives.

He noted that the blaze also likely caused some minor traffic issues along well-traveled Hwy. 20.

According to the fire report, the air temperature at the time of the fire was 13 degrees.

“Water is going to flow from an incident and immediately freeze [on the roadway],” Shivers said. “I can’t imagine this affected people too bad because there shouldn’t have been very much traffic on the roads at that time of the morning.”

He added that the blaze was the most significant issue the fire department had dealt with since snow and ice began falling Tuesday afternoon.

The only other fire reported during the icy span was a car fire.

“Of course, we ran into the to-be-expected minor vehicle accidents through [Wednesday] and then this [fire] broke out Thursday morning,” he said. “So this is the most significant thing we’ve dealt with during the cold weather.”