A fire in the early hours of Christmas morning destroyed a home in the 2000 block of Big Island Road east of Achilles, leaving the family displaced and with almost nothing to call their own. Firefighters from Abingdon Volunteer Fire and Rescue were dispatched to the call at around 1:39 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 25, and arrived on the scene at 1:47 a.m. to find heavy fire showing from the roof, said Abingdon Fire Chief David Townsend. The occupants had evacuated safely, with no reported injuries, and multiple hand lines were deployed to attack the fire. Crews spent around four hours extinguishing the fire and overhauling the scene to make sure the fire didn’t rekindle, said Townsend. Fighting the fire was made more complicated by the structural composition of the house, he said. Originally located on Big Island, the central part of the house was floated across to the mainland on deadrise boats by waterman John Henry West in the mid-1950s. Two additions were built, but the roof of the origi...