A Houston County woman is lucky to be alive after fire gutted her home early Wednesday morning.

Geraldine McNeil's daughter, Danna Hollis, says her mother grabbed her keys and ran out the door. She headed to her grandson's house next door and called 9-1-1. She may not have made it there...had it not been for a medical condition.

“She does have sleep apnea and she sleeps each night with a c-pap on and when she got to my nephews home her entire face was black except for where the mask was so we know that had it not been for the good lord and her having a c-pap on she probably would have been overcome by the smoke,” said Hollis.

When firefighters arrived the home was fully engulfed in flames. The temperature was around 24 degrees and water froze as it hit the ground. While those conditions slowed down firefighters, it also prevented them from getting inside the blazing inferno.

Wicksburg Fire Chief Paul Grime says, “When your airparks freeze up it stops you from entering the structure or being in the smoke-induced areas.”

Firefighters from Wicksburg, Bay Springs, Slocomb and Daleville poured water on the blaze for about 4-hours

“This is a tongue and groove fat liner house that was bicked around it and sheet rocked after that so it made water penetration kind of difficult.”

Unfortunately the home is a total loss. McNeil's family says her house was the place to go on Sunday after church and she intends to carry on that tradition.

They add she's a strong person and plans to rebuild on the same piece of land.

McNeil was the only person in the house at the time of the fire.

The cause of it remains under investigation.