By Kimberly Durnan
The Dallas Morning News
DENTON, Texas — Lightning strikes from an early morning Tuesday storm are believed to have set fire to large houses in Denton County and Frisco.
A fire was reported shortly before 2 a.m. at a home on Lewisville Lake just north of The Colony. The home on Buccaneer Point Road was nearly a total loss, according to The Colony Fire Department.
All that remained Tuesday afternoon was a shell of a home. The roof was gone and the second floor had collapsed.
A lack of fire hydrants and a good water supply hampered firefighting efforts, said officials with The Colony Fire Department, which serves this part of unincorporated Denton County. Nearby fire departments, including Lewisville, Little Elm, Carrollton, Pilot Point and Flower Mound, assisted in battling the blaze.
“They felt like they got close to killing it, and then they would run out of water. Then the fire started back up and they would have to watch it,” said Mike Nolan, The Colony fire chief.
Firefighters used tanker trucks to load water from a hydrant in The Colony and shuttle it about a mile to the scene. “It takes time to get everyone here to shuttle water and the fire got a big head start,” Assistant Fire Chief Van Weese said.
Lewisville fire boats also pumped water from the lake to help battle the blaze.
Sherry Baines, who owns the home valued at $700,000 with her husband, John, said she was aware of the neighborhood water shortage.
“We’ve lived here 20 years. We were well-aware of the hydrant situation,” she said. “Lightning stuck the house. It could happen to anyone.”
Chief Nolan said fire hydrants are not required in unincorporated Denton County. “People choose to live out here. It’s beautiful,” he said. “But one of the downfalls is no hydrant system.”
Neighbor Nikki Zigler said that at a recent homeowners’ meeting, residents discussed the idea of incorporation.
“It usually leads to a heated discussion because it’s still a little bit country out here. And our taxes would go up,” she said. “We need some sort of solution, like a water tank or the ability to pump from the lake faster.”
Neighbor Landon Reid said he and the neighbors have their own septic system. They would prefer not to pay city taxes and believe that county control is preferable to city oversight, he said.
He agreed that the annexation issue is controversial.
“Nobody in the neighborhood wants to be annexed. The fire wouldn’t make any difference,” he said. “We do not want to go into the Colony. Nobody here does.”
Locked front and side doors also prevented firefighters from quickly entering the home, Chief Weese said. The owners who had fled the fire did not have keys with them.
Neighbor Ralph Johnson heard the lightning strike the house. “When lightning hit the house,” he said, “everybody woke up.”
He said Mr. Baines got up and checked the electrical system. Mr. Baines “thought it was a fluke, went back to bed, then smelled smoke, got up and the house was on fire,” Mr. Johnson said.
A few miles east and a few minutes earlier, Frisco fire officials said they believe a lightning strike caused about $500,000 in damages to another home. Residents woke up about 1:45 a.m. after smoke detectors sounded. Firefighters arrived to find flames coming from the roof of the two-story home.
The thunder and lightning in North Texas were expected to clear out Tuesday and temperatures were expected to reach a high of 55 degrees, the National Weather Service said.
Copyright 2008 The Dallas Morning News