Firefighters with the Houston Rural Fire Department tended to two house fires for the second straight week, responding to middle-of-the-night blazes on both Tuesday and Thursday mornings.
Four trucks and 10 firefighters were called Tuesday at about 1:30 a.m. to a fire at the residence of Rhonda Ramsey at 8227 Fisher Drive.
Houston Rural Chief Don Gaston said the fire apparently started in a pile of clothing, but it was contained to a single bedroom and the rest of the mobile home was saved. Several people living in the home — including two who were wheelchair-bound —escaped injury and were outside when the fire trucks arrived.
“The main thing I’d like to get across is that a smoke detector probably saved at least three or four lives there,” Gaston said. “They do save lives, and I’d much rather just have to try to put a fire out and not have to worry about trying to dig corpses out.”
One woman was taken to Texas County Memorial Hospital for observation due to inhaling smoke before getting out.
“The house was full of smoke,” Gaston said, “but they kept the door shut to the room and we saved the trailer.”
Two Houston rural trucks and eight firefighters responded at about 3:30 a.m. to the mobile home of Stacy Colgan at 9092 Highway 17 in Bucyrus.
This time the home was too far gone by the time crews arrived and was a total loss. Several Houston firefighters went to the scene in their own vehicles, and crews from both the Roby and Plato fire departments also showed up.
“That’s four home fires we’ve had now in about a week and a half,” Gaston said. “We’re tired.”