CABARRUS CO., N.C. -- Orange smoke and bright flames shot up to the sky as an old farmhouse along Route 3 burned to the ground.

Arthur Helms was one of six people sleeping inside when the fire started. A friend, who smelled smoke, woke him up.

"Told me there was smoke and I looked beside me and there were flames coming out the vent right beside me, ran downstairs, got my grandparents up, got my brother up and got them out of the house,” he said.

Everyone got out of the house alive including the family's two pets. But Cabarrus County Fire Marshal Steve Langer said firefighters could do little to save the house. He said it was especially difficult to fight the fire since the house is in the country.

"There's really no water, no fire hydrants, so you have to do water shuttles. That makes it difficult. Also the wind was blowing pretty hard when the fire started," he said.

Homeowners said the farm house was built in the late 1800s and was filled with history. Some furniture was saved.

"We got a few items out of one room but a few pictures and the important stuff we got, but we're all OK and that's really what matters," Helms said.

Helms said he thinks the fire started when sparks flew out of the chimney above a wood-burning stove. The fire marshal won't say for sure what the cause was but he says it was an accident.