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A Gwinnett County home was destroyed early Tuesday morning after the homeowner returned from a months-long trip abroad and started a fire in the fireplace that spread throughout the house, officials said. Fire crews were called to a home on Jack Russell Run in Lilburn shortly after 1 a.m., Gwinnett fire spokesman Capt. Ryan McGiboney said in a news release. The homeowner, who called 911, said he had used the fireplace but realized something was wrong when he heard crackling from inside the walls. Crews found the two-story home with flames leaping from the roofline, McGiboney said. A rapid intervention team cut holes in two sides of the house to vent smoke and heat, and firefighters searched the house to confirm that everyone had been evacuated. “It’s amazing the Lord protected us,” Moses Lee, the homeowner, told Channel 2 Action News on Tuesday afternoon. Lee had just returned to the house after several months and discovered his natural gas service had been shut off, McGiboney said. He was building a fire because of the cold temperatures Monday night, which reached a low of about 45 degrees. Lee told fire investigators that when his walls felt hot to the touch, he realized the home was on fire and called 911. “I just went out and, bam, fire,” Lee told Channel 2, gesturing at his ruined house from the front yard. The blaze was intense enough that firefighters evacuated residents from homes nearby before bringing the flames under control, Channel 2 reported. A camera at the scene was able to look through the home’s open front door and see the woods behind the house instead of the second-floor ceiling. No injuries were reported and the cause of the fire was determined to be accidental, McGiboney said. The homeowner confirmed there were no working smoke alarms in the house. McGiboney said more fires occur during the winter months than at any other time of the year and recommended that homeowners get annual inspections of their heating equipment and chimneys.