Firefighter loses house in fire ... again

MEADOW LAKES — A Houston firefighter and his wife who were displaced by a blaze about a little more than one year ago have lost a second residence to fire.

Shawn Skiles and wife Ceclia (and their black lab, Savage) were once again contemplating a stay in a Red Cross-provided hotel Monday (Oct. 5) after an apparent chimney fire destroyed their house along North Finsbury Lane. A family cat, Sniper, died after rushing back into the burning house.

Skiles was at home at the time the fire started around noon, and told firefighters he and his wife heard a roaring sound coming from the chimney. When they went in to check on the sound, some housing material had ignited.

“We were both awake at the time, my wife had just gotten through with her home nurse visit for her pregnancy,” he said.

When he came into the room where the fire occurred, some of the housing material had already caught fire, Skiles said.

“Some of the vapor barrier behind the stove had lit on fire,” he said.

By the time firefighters responded to the scene of the blaze, the entire 20-foot-by-20-foot, one-story house was engulfed in flames, according to West Lakes Fire Department Battalion Chief James Keel.

“We knocked the fire down probably within 15 minutes of arrival,” he said. “By then, we were looking at a total loss of the structure.”

The couple was about 30 days away from completing a new house constructed after their previous house was ruled a complete loss, Skiles said. A malfunctioning water heater caused the Sept. 11, 2014 house fire, authorities said at the time. The family had only lived in that house for about a year.

The family had only recently returned to living in the new house, and the majority of their possessions — including gear Skiles uses to fight fires — burned.

“Pretty much everything we had was in there,” he said.

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2270, brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com, or on Twitter @reporterbriano.