Breckenridge Texan

By Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan

Breckenridge firefighters responded to a smoke call at 12:23 this afternoon and soon discovered a home on East Lindsey Street completely engulfed in flames. Breckenridge Fire Chief Calvin Chaney said the original call came in as a smoke call because smoke was blowing across the road on Walker Street, but firefighters soon determined where the smoke was coming from and responded to that location.

“All it came in as was a smoke call,” Chaney said. “Nobody ever let us know there was a house on fire. We just knew we’d got a smoke call by the park because it (smoke) was blowing across Walker Street. You know, we just knew there was a fire and had no problem finding it.”

A Breckenridge firefighter pulls a hose toward the scene of a housefire on Wednesday afternoon. The ruins of the house and a pickup that burned are in the background. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

According to Chaney, the fire was started by an electrical short in a carport that was attached to the house and spread quickly. “It was an electrical short that started in that little carport garage and got into the house,” he said. “There was a lot of stuff in that garage, tires, lawn mowers, air compressors, just a lot of fuel.”

He said the flames quickly spread through the garage and went inside the house through a window and into the attic of the house. It completely destroyed the home. Also, a pickup truck parked out front was badly burned.

A woman who lives at the house was inside the home at the time the fire started. Chaney said she heard the sparking and popping and went out the front door to look, and that’s when she saw the fire and smoke pouring out of the garage. He said she then went out into the street and that’s when the neighbors came over. By then, Chaney said, the first fire units had arrived on the scene.

Chaney said eight fire trucks responded to the fire, including a ladder truck and two trucks with water cannons They also used a tractor from the City’s Water Department to pull pieces of tin off the roof so the water could get to the flames in the house.

“That was the thing — it had multiple roofs,” Chaney said, explaining that the roof had fallen in and collapsed “It had a tin roof, and we can’t get the water on the fire whenever that tin falls on top of it. So, that tractor was used to grab that tin and pull it off so we could get to what’s burning underneath it.”

Once firefighters arrived, Chaney said, they knocked the fire down in about 40 to 45 minutes.

Chaney said they also activated all of the department’s off-duty firefighters and called in the Breckenridge Fire Department’s volunteers.

He said the Wayland and Hubbard Creek volunteer fire departments’ fire chiefs also showed up. He said they saw the fire and showed up on their own to assist. The Stephens County Sheriff Department and Breckenridge Police Department closed off traffic on East Lindsey. AMR Medical Services also responded; however, there were no injuries.

Breckenridge firefighters look for hotspots in the ruins of a house that caught fire on East Lindsey Street on Wednesday afternoon. The house was completely destroyed. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

Cutline, top photo: Breckenridge firefighters remove debris and tin, looking for hotspots after a fire destroyed a house on East Lindsey Street on Wednesday. Fire Chief Calvin Chaney said they activated all of the department’s off-duty firefighters and called in the department’s volunteers. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)