Corpus Christi Caller-Times
KINGSVILLE, Texas — A fire that began in a tree Tuesday destroyed three Kingsville homes and damaged another in dry conditions that kept area firefighters busy.
“It all happened so fast,” said Esther Garza, one of 12 people who lost homes in the blaze. “I grabbed my 4-month-old grandson and his bottle, and we ran out of the house.”
At 2:12 p.m., firefighters received the call of a tree fire caused by an electrical line in the 600 block of East Nettie Avenue, Kingsville Fire Department Capt. Jose Armando Sandoval said. They arrived to find three houses engulfed by flames, which quickly spread to a fourth. One was vacant.
The residents escaped without injury, but a firefighter injured a shoulder, a reporter suffered from smoke inhalation and police officer was stung by a bee.
Garza said she and her husband heard some noises, stepped outside and saw smoke coming from a house next door.
Garza, 59, lost the home in which she has lived all her life and all her belongings. It took firefighters more than two hours to put out the blaze. Also responding to the fire were Kleberg County volunteer firefighters, firefighters from Naval Air Station Kingsville and a Fort Worth firefighter who was in the area.
Sandoval said the cause is under investigation.
Ron Gerd, a volunteer firefighter, said after battling the fire he immediately shifted into his other emergency role as a volunteer for the American Red Cross. He threw on his Red Cross vest and began gathering names of those in need of assistance.
As Kingsville firefighters worked to put out the burning homes, firefighters in nearby Bishop tackled a grass fire that burned about 40 acres then put out a small grass fire in a Driscoll yard. Firefighters in the Flour Bluff area also put out a brush fire.
The grass fire about 2 p.m. near Bishop off Farm-to-Market 70 closed a portion of the road as smoke reduced visibility, but the road reopened by 4:30 p.m.
About a dozen firefighters from Nueces County Fire District No. 3, a combination of firefighters from Bishop, Petronila and Driscoll, responded with five units to the fire, which threatened two houses and a barn. It took about 2½ hours to extinguish it.
John Davis, assistant chief for the Bishop Volunteer Fire Department, said a spark as the property owner used his tractor to move hay bales likely caused the fire. The man suffered burns to his hands.
Rochelle Goldman, one of three property owners who had land burned, said she and her husband, Roger, weren’t at home when the fire started, but a neighbor called her and she hurried home fearing the worst.
“I just figured the house was going to be gone,” she said. "(But) the wind was blowing in the right direction to save our houses.”
Flour Bluff Volunteer Fire Department responded to a brush fire at 12:06 p.m. Tuesday and put it out within 20 minutes, said Chief Dale Scott.
About a quarter of an acre north of State Highway 286 between Farm-to-Market Road 2444 and Farm-to-Market Road 43 burned.
“People really need to be aware of the situation, especially around their house -- the grass has been really dry, and it doesn’t look like we’re going to get any rain,” Scott said.
The Keetch-Bynum Drought Index, which measures fire probability based on soil moisture, rated Kleberg County as average. Nueces County was considered to have a high probability.
Copyright 2009 SCRIPPS Howard Publications
All Rights Reserved