Breckenridge Texan

UPDATE:

The suspect arrested in connection with last night’s mobile home fire remains in custody at the Stephens County Jail and has been identified as Juan Pedro Manriquez, 27, of Breckenridge, according to Breckenridge Police Chief Blake Johnson. The suspect is reportedly known to local law enforcement.

“He’s booked in on the charge of arson, based on that fire,” Johnson said Tuesday, April 1. “He’s known to us.”

Regarding Monday night’s incident, Johnson said, “He made statements to our officers that led us to believe that he committed the offense.”

The investigation is now being transferred to an arson investigator from the Breckenridge Fire Department. Manriquez remains in jail Tuesday afternoon.

A house on County Road 206 was destroyed Tuesday morning after a fire that started Monday night reignited, local firefighters said. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

In another fire-related development, the structure fire on Stephens County Road 206 that had been extinguished Monday night reignited early Tuesday morning, according to local fire officials.

Breckenridge Fire Department Capt. Justin Read said emergency crews were dispatched to the scene for a second time around 4 a.m. this morning, despite having gone to great lengths to ensure the fire was out Monday night.

“The dispatch called us at about four o’clock,” Read said. The house was fully engulfed in flames when crews arrived, he said. 

Multiple agencies responded to the call Tuesday morning, including the Breckenridge Fire Department, Hubbard Creek Volunteer Fire Department, the Stephens County Sheriff’s Office, and Sacred Cross Emergency Medical Services.

Fire officials have not determined the cause of the re-ignition. Read said the investigation is complicated by extensive fire damage.

The fire’s cause is under investigation.

— Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan

Original article:

Local firefighters battle simultaneous structure fires Monday night; man in custody on arson charges for one of the blazes

By Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan

Local firefighters were on the scene of two structure fires at the same time Monday night, March 31, and a man is in custody on arson charges related to one of the fires.

Billy Gilbreath, a Wayland VFD firefighter, sprays water on a the remains of a mobile home on East Sixth Street on Monday night. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

Breckenridge Fire Capt. Justin Read said that firefighters were at the scene of a structure fire on East Sixth Street at about 8:30 p.m., when they received the call about another structure fire on County Road 206 in the Hubbard Creek Lake area.

Firefighters from the Breckenridge Fire Department, Wayland Volunteer Fire Department and Hubbard Creek Volunteer Fire Department worked together to get the fires under control.

The structure in the 100 block of East Sixth Street was an unoccupied mobile home and was completely destroyed by the fire.

Read said he was at the fire station when he received a call about the fire on East Sixth Street. A witness reported seeing someone knocking out the windows in the trailer house. After receiving information indicating the situation at the scene might be dangerous, the firefighters waited on a police officer to arrive at the scene for assistance.

“We waited for the cops to get there, and by time he got there, the trailer house was pretty much all the way burnt to the ground,” Read said.

Read said a man in the area was questioned by the officer and admitted to setting the fire because he was “just having a bad day.” He was taken into custody at the scene and booked into the Stephens County Jail on an arson charge.

Not long after arriving on the scene of the fire on East Sixth Street, Read and some of the other firefighters drove across the county to respond to the fire on CR 206. That house received smoke and water damage, he said.

No one was injured in either fire.

In addition to the fire departments, the Breckenridge Police Department, Stephens County Sheriff’s Office, the Stephens County Fire Marshal/Constable and Sacred Cross EMS responded to the scenes.

Cutline, top photo: Billy Gilbreath, with the Wayland Volunteer Fire Department, sprays a fully-engulfed mobile home in the 100 block of East Sixth Street on Monday night. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

Editor’s Note: This article was updated at about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 1, 2025, with additional information and a new photograph.