Volunteer firefighters with the Houston Rural Fire Department responded at about 11:15 a.m. Tuesday to a mobile home fire on Highway Z west of Houston.
Houston Rural Chief Don Gaston said four trucks went to the scene and crews managed to prevent much of the outside of the residence from being lost.
“There was a lot of damage on the inside,” Gaston said, “but we saved a large portion of the outside. And for being as far out as it was we had a pretty decent response time.”
The residence reportedly belonged to a member of the McCoy family. Gaston said nobody was home at the time of the fire, and a passer-by had reported seeing smoke.
The cause was believed to be related to electrical wiring.
In the wee hours of Aug. 3, Houston Rural sent three trucks and eight firefighters to a location on Highway B east of Houston to fight a large blaze at a charcoal business.
Gaston said that crews responded at about 3:30 a.m. to a large metal building at the Packaging Service Co. Inc. property (formerly Thomason Charcoal) where charcoal is stored before being readied for sale.
“A night watchman was making his rounds and found a small fire out in front of that building,” Gaston said. “When they tried to get it out and move it away from the other part, it just consumed it all. There was fire from one end to the other when we arrived on the scene.
“It was a big fire – it took many gallons of water.”
Houston Rural firefighters have also responded to several field fires during the hot, dry summer, and were involved along with several other agencies last Monday night in a search for a crashed airplane that came up empty.
“We’ve been busy,” Gaston said.