LaFayette Fire Department works Saturday to contain fuel leaking from this Cessna two-seater plane. (Staff photo/Kandice Ledford)

Authorities on Saturday were waiting for the Federal Aviation Administration to arrive while they contained fuel spilled from a small plane that struck a house in LaFayette.

The Cessna 182, flown by 58-year-old Everett Womack of Blue Ridge, was carrying about 80 gallons of fuel when it crashed, LaFayette Public Safety Director Charles "Dino" Richardson said.

The two-passenger plane crashed into Darrel and Tyra McBryar’s 601 S. Chattanooga St. residence shortly after noon. Tyra McBryar said she was in the house watching television when the plane tore through the roof of the house. She was uninjured the crash.

Darrell McBryar was a few blocks away helping a friend when his 11-year-old son, Darrell Jr., told him what had happened.

“I was helping my buddy move his chickens,” McBryar said. “My son came running up screaming ‘Daddy! Daddy! A plane came through the house.’”

The McBryar’s rent the house, which received substantial damage during the crash, from LaFayette attorney Bobby Hannah. Hannah said he has another house the family can move into immediately.

“I had it up for sale, but I called the realtor this morning to get the key out of the lockbox so they can move in,” he said.

Tyra McBryar said Darrell Jr. and their two daughters, 14-year-old Kayla and Telisha, 12, were at the neighborhood market across the street when the plane crashed.

McBryar said she had taken an insulin shot and gone in her bedroom to lie down when she heard a loud explosion moments later.

She thought the explosion was a gas explosion and hurried out of the house, which was quickly filling with smoke. She said she did not see the plane until she was outside the house.

“It scared me because I didn’t know if they had come back into the house or what,” Tyra McBryar said. “I ran out the back door and saw the airplane up there. I was scared. I didn’t know what to think.”

Womack told authorities he had just taken off from LaFayette’s Barwick Airport when he lost power, Richardson said. The pilot was probably aiming for a nearby field when he lost altitude and struck the house.

Womack and his passenger, who has not been identified, received minor injuries in the crash. They were able to climb from the rear of the cockpit and onto the roof where a rescue ladder helped them down, Walker County Emergency Services Coordinator David Ashburn said.

Firefighters sprayed a special foam on the fuel to keep it contained and reduce the risk of fire, Richardson said.

Richardson said a special recovery team must come from Atlanta to extract the plane from the building.

Saturday’s incident was not the first airplane crash in LaFayette.

“Approximately 12 years ago, we had another aircraft that crashed close to the Roper plant,” Richardson said.