Weekend blaze claims three structures on FM-314 South
By Nathan Straus News Reporter

Nathan Straus Photo Firefighters work to control a blaze that rekindled around noon Monday.

A fire menacing FM-314 South since Saturday, August 25, was extinguished about 12:30 pm, August 27 by the Brownsboro and Chandler Volunteer Fire Departments. The fire cut through two mobile homes and a small wooden-framed building before it was hosed down. There were no injuries reported.

Robert York, chief of the Chandler Volunteer Fire Department, said Saturday night a resident heard a pop and woke up to discover all was not well.

"The air conditioning had gone out and he saw the fire," York said.

The fire departments responded immediately to the call, but nothing could have been done at the time.

Bryan McAteer, a Brownsboro volunteer firefighter responding to the scene, said attempts to quell the inferno inside the mobile home would have been pointless.

"We just didn't have enough water to do it," McAteer said.

York said as soon as the fire left the mobile home it was an easy matter to kill it, though the urgency was greater.

Nathan Straus Photo BVFD Fireman Brian McAteer works to put out the FM-314 rekindle Monday.

"The big danger," York began, "was the primary lines next to the place. If the fire spread over there, well, I couldn't tell you where all the lines go."

There would also be the risk of the fire spreading across FM 314 once it got out of the mobile homes, York added.

McAteer said though the fire was not put out as soon as it sprouted, it was never simply left alone.

"It was always a controlled burn," McAteer said.

With the fire dead and the threat neutralized, there was just the matter of what couldn't be saved.

The mobile homes, York commented, and the wooden house were definitely destroyed, but the damages certainly don't stop there.

"I couldn't begin to estimate what all was inside those houses, so I can't estimate what the damages were," York said.

The residents of the homes were not available for comment as of press time.