SOUR LAKE, Texas — Homeowners in Sour Lake are without a home after it was destroyed by a fire while they were on a vacation.
Hardin County Emergency Services District five firefighters along with other agencies were sent to a home in the 1100 block of Tallow Circle around 9:30 a.m. Thursday morning after receiving reports of a structure fire.
When firefighters arrived, they observed smoke coming out of the garage where vehicles were fully involved.
"We had to use a K-12 saw to make entry into the garage, cut the garage doors down, which is a delay and then we had two pre-connects," said Hardin County ESD five District Chief Glenn Withers. "It was confined to the garage. It had three vehicles in the garage, that were fully involved."
Chief Withers says they were able to extinguish the fire in the garage, but it got into the attic.
"Within five minutes of our arrival, it got up in the attic," he said. "And once in the attic, you got a cat chasing your tail, it [it's] just, a rate of progression of the fire, was too much for the man power we had available this morning."
Sour Lake requested multiple agencies to aid with battling the fire including Saratoga Fire-Rescue, Lumberton Fire and EMS and Jefferson County ESD one.
"We called Lumberton for assistance, Bevil Oaks for assistance, Saratoga for assistance and Beaumont sent an engine over here because this is significant loss for these people," said Chief Withers.
The homeowners were on vacation in Mexico and no one was home when the house became engulfed.
"When I got here, one of the neighbors were in conversation with them [homeowners] in Mexico, so they know about it, but I don't know the particulars of the homeowners," he said. "I don't know how many people is [are] displaced or anything else."
No additional homes were damaged, according to Chief Withers. A fire marshal is currently investigating the fire.
"No exposures, we saved a camper in the front yard but the rest of it, pretty well gone," he said. "[The] cause is unknown, we do have a fire marshal investigating it right now, but it's probably going to be isolated to the garage because that was what's involved when I got here."
The home is a total loss and the cause is not yet known.
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This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.