GROVETON — A fire in a home on Highway 287 broke out Wednesday, leaving the interior of the structure badly damaged.
Groveton Fire Chief Glenn Hammond said the department got the call around 10 a.m.; he was the first on the scene and saw flames coming out of house at the chimney.
Groveton firefighters responded, and Hammond said he called for firetrucks from Friday and Pennington fire departments and for a tanker truck from Trinity.
He said the firefighters had the blaze knocked down in about two hours.
Hammond said he is 99.9 percent sure the fire started at the chimney, especially since it was encased in wood. The interior of structure, owned by Floyd Rivers, was heavily damaged, but no injuries were reported.
“I’m not sure if it was occupied at the time, but there were people there trying to extinguish with buckets,” Hammond said. “Kudos for all the departments helping. We can’t do much without them.”
One of the reasons fighting fires is difficult is that Groveton VFD needs more equipment, especially a tanker, since there is no tanker on the north side of the county.
However, he said that within the next week, the department will roll out a high water rescue/brush truck, which was received from the Texas A&M Forest Service through the Federal Excess Property program, at no cost to Groveton.
“We did have a cost of repairs for less than $1,000 and painting was $150 (which was done in house by Chase Hester) and door decals cost $125,” Hammond said. “Along with the truck we received a grant for $20,000 to purchase a slip-on pump.”
A bid from Neil Fire for a 500-gallon unit at a cost of $24,000 was accepted, and the unit will be mounted on the truck for high fire danger and can be easily removed for high water rescue.