Firefighters worked for more than 11 hours to extinguish a fire which destroyed a Connally Street home Tuesday evening. No one was hurt in the fire, but the residents lost all of their belongings.
The Hopkins County chapter of the American Red Cross was called in to assist the couple, as well as provide rehabilitation for the firefighters. The couple’s son assisted them in obtaining housing accommodations last night, according to fire reports.
Double or shiplap ceiling which collapsed in on the large amount of household items in the middle of the home — which in turn continued to fuel the flames and restricted firefighters’ access to the fire — hampered efforts to extinguish it.
Sulphur Springs firefighters were initially dispatched just after 6 p.m. to 407 Connally St., where the residents had escaped the blaze, but reportedly kept trying to re-enter the flaming structure to rescue their pets.
City firemen arrived to find the left front side of the house engulfed in flames, which were blazing out the attic. Firemen immediately accounted for the occupants before fighting the fire.
“Once we got on scene, we called Hopkins County Engine 20 because we knew the fire was too big for us on our own,” said SSFD Investigator Eric Hill. “It was very helpful to have county crews come in. We were short staff on shift; the county added three more firemen to the fight.”
All available off-duty Sulphur Springs firemen were also asked to assist at the scene.
Just when they thought the blaze was under control around 7 p.m., they discovered it had rekindled in the attic between the main ceiling and “drop” ceiling, spreading to the east side of the house.
At one point the ceiling collapsed in on the middle of the structure, where the fire continued to blaze through the night. Firefighters had to back out when the conditions inside the house became too dangerous and instead concentrated on the exterior of the house, Hill explained.
Firefighters attempted to re-enter the structure, but due to the extensive damage, they instead continued the defensive attack from the outside. The large amount of personal items inside the structure, particularly in the center, also created a problem for fire teams. The items provided a “huge fuel load” which continued to feed the fire.
During the early morning hours, a city work crew was contacted to bring a backhoe to the location to “pull out” the west and south walls of the house to try to remove some of the fuel load for the blaze and get closer to the main source. However, even using the backhoe, firemen still weren’t able to get directly at the kindling in the middle of the house. Firemen had to wait about an hour for the roof to burn up, which allowed access to the contents beneath it. One particularly difficult obstacle was a large metal chest which continued to hold heat. Firemen were finally able to drag it outside, make sure it was no longer on fire before returning to tackle the blaze.
The fire was finally extinguished at about 5 a.m. Wednesday, but firemen continued to wrangle hot, smoldering patches in the structure for about 30 minutes.
Hill said Wednesday morning’s heavy downpour and sporadic rain during the rest of the morning hours should help soak the remains and prevent the fire from rekindling and flaming again Wednesday.
Fortunately, neither the residents nor any of the firefighters were reported to have been injured due to the blaze.
The fire was said to have started in the front west room of the house. The cause is currently “undetermined” pending investigation.
The residents reportedly had experienced some electrical problems in the home over the last week.
Fire investigators said Wednesday morning that at this point they are unable to determine the cause of the fire. They plan an investigation, but because “there’s so much damage” to the structure, they may not be able to determine the cause.
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