By Thomas graning

NATCHEZ — Dora Conner will remember the time 4:59 a.m. for the rest of her life.

That’s when her Sedgefield Road house caught fire Saturday morning.

Conner vividly remembered waking up to the sound of her husband in the other room.

“I yelled ‘what’s wrong?’ and he yelled back ‘there’s a fire,’” Conner said, standing outside of the charred remains of her home. “I went in and grabbed (my husband) and led him out through the smoke,” Conner said.

After the couple safely made it outside of their house, Marshall Conner, Dora’s husband, tried to run back into the house with a garden hose attempting to extinguish the flames that were burning down their memories.

But Dora wouldn’t let him, knowing it was too dangerous.

Shortly after the fire started in the back of the house, Foster Mound Volunteer Fire Department and Natchez Fire Department officials responded to put the fire out.

Even though Marshall went to the hospital as a precaution, Dora was glad that neither of them were injured thanks to Marshall waking up first.

“Thankfully, he wasn’t overtaken by the smoke before waking me up,” Dora said.

The back portion of the house was completely burned, and firefighters returned later that morning to extinguish a few remaining hotspots.

Dora attempted to remain in high spirits as the firefighters returned, offering them and a few bystanders what little she had left that the fire didn’t claim Saturday.

“Does anyone need a chair?” Dora said, offering up a few chairs left from inside the house.