Three county fire departments responded Friday morning to a blaze that destroyed a large house in Raymondville.
Raymondville Fire Department Chief Mike Jackson said personnel from the Raymondville, Houston Rural and Licking fire departments went to the scene after the 5:09 a.m. call, where an 18-room home was destroyed.
The house was about 90 years old, Jackson said, and had been added onto several times over the years.
“We arrived to find heavy fire,” he said.
The structure had four fireplaces, and Jackson said the blaze started in one of them. The family dog jumped on the bed and alerted the man and woman who were in the house, and they got out safely, according to Jackson.
Dry firewood located inside the home, in the garage and on the porch acted as fuel to the blaze.
“The wind was not excessive,” Jackson said, “but it wasn’t helpful to us.”
Jackson said four cats were in the house, and that two were accounted for.
“We’re hoping the other ones just got out and will be found,” he said.
Four trucks and 10 men responded to the blaze on Wildwood Drive off Highway 137.