VIDALIA — Jessie Hewing’s eyes were both sad and tired as she surveyed what was left of her house Tuesday afternoon.

“I’ve been here a lot of years,” she said.

Three quarters of Hewing’s 190 North Grove Drive residence was reduced to its charred structural ribs after a fire, which Concordia Fire District No. 2 officials responded to at approximately 3:50 p.m.

Hewing had been out to the store when the fire started, but Tatyana Hewing, 10, and her cousin, Amiracle Williams, 7, were in the residence cleaning house at the time the blaze ignited.

The fire started with sparks flying from a window air-conditioning unit, Tatyana said.

“I saw the fire come from the air-conditioner, and then it burned the couch,” she said.

When the couch ignited, Tatyana grabbed her cousin and ran across the street to call for help.

“I was scared,” Tatyana said.

The fire was extinguished by 4:45 p.m., though firemen continued to hose the residence to ensure the fire didn’t flare back up.

“(The children) had called me just before it happened,” Hewing said. “Just like that, it happened.”

And so, after years in one house, Hewing will be staying with her brother tonight, she said.