Decisive actions by a police officer and off-duty member of a volunteer fire department saved a Houston home from being severely damaged or even consumed by fire Monday night, according to police chief Jim McNiell.
McNiell said officer Dustin Hartman of the Houston Police Department and T.C. Watts, a volunteer with the Raymondville Fire Department, also assisted a woman from the bedroom of the home at 114 East Chestnut Street. The woman was uninjured.
Authorities received a report of a house fire shortly after 11 p.m. Hartman and Watts, who is also a jailer at the Texas County Sheriff’s Department, were the first to respond.
McNiell said family members standing in the front yard told the men a person remained in the home.
“They entered the home with the idea of looking for someone and saving their life,” McNiell said.
The men safely assisted the woman out of the home, then used a fire extinguisher to put on the fire. McNiell said it was contained to a bed. He said he believed a candle started the fire.
The mattress was leaned against the exterior of the home Tuesday morning. It had visible burn marks.
McNiell praised Hartman and Watts for reacting quickly and saving the home.
“Their quick actions kept the house from being considerably damaged or totaled,” McNiell said.
He said the woman did not belong in the home with the fire. He said it was heavily consumed with smoke when Hartman and Watts arrived.
“In that situation, minutes saved someone from potentially having a life-threatening problem,” McNiell said.