Houston home destroyed by blaze

HOUSTON - A watchful neighbor summoned firefighters to a blaze on King Arthur Drive Monday, but even quick response times weren't enough to save the home.

"We had our first truck out the door responding with a full crew within four minutes," said Houston Fire Department spokesman Christian Hartley. But, "the neighbor unfortunately didn't see it until it was in the well-involved stage."

Hartley said the home was about two and a half miles down King Arthur. The neighbor who called it in waited outside to flag the fire trucks into the driveway. The fire wasn't the easiest to fight.

"We did attempt to make an interior attack on it, but it was in the crawl space under the house," he said. "We had to use a chainsaw to get into the crawlspace."

Firefighters continued to go inside until about eight minutes in when the roof started to collapse and the call was made to switch to a defensive fire with crews working from outside the structure.

At some point, the homeowner showed up, which was a relief for firefighters since the neighbor didn't know for sure the house was unoccupied.

"Until we actually physically talk to a homeowner or a resident, we are never 100 percent sure that no one is inside," Hartley said. "That's why we're constantly keeping an eye out for clues that somebody is inside."

He said that in addition to Houston, crews from the Willow, West Lakes and Central Mat-Su fire departments turned out.

"They were definitely integral on this fire," Hartley said.

Hartley said they were able to save some of the home's "structural elements," but it was still a total loss, especially considering the homeowner lost nearly everything he owned.

"The homeowner did not have any insurance on the home," Hartley said. "I'm just hoping he has a lot of family and friends he can pull on to help him."

He said the Red Cross responded and is putting the man up for the night.

Temperatures in the Valley stayed below zero for most of the day, spending a lot of time in double-negative digits.

Which, of course, is uncomfortable for most people. It's acutely uncomfortable for firefighters given that their job is to work with water. It can be dangerous. Water from a hose turns to ice, making scenes extremely slippery. Cold weather also causes equipment to malfunction, particularly the bells that alert firefighters when the air tanks with their breathing apparatuses are running low.

"When it gets too cold, which it definitely was today, it will actually freeze up that bell," Hartley said. "You don't get any warning, you have to watch your air a lot closer."

Hartley said everyone made it back from the fire without an injury except for the neighbor, who called in the fire.

"Had actually run over at one point to make sure no one was home and had suffered some smoke inhalation," Hartley said. It was minor, though, and the man declined to be treated.

"He had a pretty persistent cough," Hartley said.

Also of concern is equipment on responding fire trucks. Pumps can freeze in this kind of weather, as can hoses. Hartley said sometimes hoses freeze in just a few minutes.

Crews were successful in avoiding that this go-around, Hartley said, because they shuttled trucks back and forth to one of the fire department's fill sites rather than have them all wait on scene with full tanks. They also let the hoses run so the water didn't sit inside and freeze, he said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.