Update: Officials reported that a fire at a mobile home on Tuesday near Lake Brownwood was not related to explosions heard in the area, but coincidental timing of the events caused neighbors to report it as such.
Brownwood Fire Marshal Buddy Preston stated Wednesday evening that the mobile home roof had been damaged previously and had finally blown completely off the day of the incident. The explosion or “booms” that were heard came from an oil storage tank about four miles away, he explained. The fire and sounds coincidentally occurred at the same time.
Since the explosions were reported at the same time the roof blew into the power lines and caused the neighboring property’s electric to blink, this made neighbors and those initially on scene believe it was the mobile home exploding that caused the grass fire beside it.
The small grass fire was caused by the roof hitting the nearby power lines, according to Preston.
“The fire happened when the service line arced as the last part of the roof blew off,” said Preston.
Original Story: A quiet Lake Brownwood neighborhood was shaken by an explosion and fire at a mobile home Tuesday around 11:00am according to witnesses on scene.
The mobile home roof was partially blown off, hanging only from one side of the residence. No explanation of what caused the fire was available; however the structure’s walls remained standing.
The beauty shop next to the mobile home on County Road 603 near Lake Brownwood didn’t sustain any damage but had a short blink of the electricity according to owner Cookie Rutherford.
“The lights flickered and we thought it was a sonic boom. It was real loud, but sounded like it came from behind the beauty shop,” said Rutherford. “Then we heard two more booms.”
A customer, named Carolyn was getting a perm and stated that Cookie had just washed her hair when Randy, Chief of the Lake Bridge Volunteer Fire Department showed up to check to see if everyone in the salon was okay.
The blast came as quite a surprise to the unsuspecting women.
“I’ve lived here about thirty years and this is the most excitement we’ve ever had,” said Rutherford.
Rutherford said that the the property has been vacant for at least 4 years. She said that the grass was tall and she had reported it to the Brown County Sheriff’s Office in hopes to get it cleaned up. Rutherford said she has been trying to get the property cleaned up for about 8 months, and has called and left messages for her commissioner, which according to Rutherford have not been returned.
“Hopefully now that this has happened, maybe it will be taken care of,” said Rutherford. “It was a nice place years ago before it became vacant.”
Rutherford stated that she worries about the property being vacant and the fire danger that the tall grass poses. She was appreciative of Randy and the firefighters who quickly responded, extinguishing the fire before it threatened her property.
Pictured above is the damaged mobile. Below is a picture which shows the mobile and the beauty shop next door.
