Neighborhood Evacuated During Haltom City House Fire
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HALTOM CITY (CBSDFW.COM) - Fire officials are trying to figure out what caused a house fire in Haltom City. It started at around 9:30 p.m. on Thursday night in the 2700 block of Kinman Street, and forced a neighborhood to be evacuated during the nighttime hours.
When crews arrived at the scene, flames were already quickly moving through the two-story house. Emergency workers opted to evacuate other neighborhood homes as a precaution, because of the intensity of the blaze. Residents were allowed to return to their homes once the fire was extinguished.
Two neighboring houses were not touched by flames, but were damaged by the extreme heat. However, there is not much left of the house where the fire began -- just the remnants of its garage.
David Johnson lives at the home, and was taken by ambulance to JPS Hospital in Fort Worth with minor burns to his legs and smoke inhalation. He returned to the scene early Friday morning. It was his home for 17 years, and actually where he grew up as a child.
From his wheelchair, Johnson credited his loyal dog, Lucy, with saving his life. "I was in the back of the house asleep, and the dog came and jumped on top of me and woke me up," Johnson recalled. "And I smelled the smoke and got my wheelchair and came around into the kitchen, and the flames was just already -- hit me right in the face. I just fell back in the wheelchair and crawled out the back door."
Johnson made it to his front yard and saw his childhood home already engulfed in flames. "She saved my life," Johnson said, talking about his dog. Johnson's wife and granddaughter, who live with him, were not at home when the fire started.
It is not clear if there was some sort of explosion at the home, as has happened in several other North Texas cities over the last several months. Fire investigators will be back on the scene early Friday to determine what caused the blaze, along with crews from Atmos Energy.
"That's standard," explained Chief Steve Ross with the Haltom City Fire Department. "Any structure fire you are going to have utilities, and they come and assist us in making sure we have all the utilities cut off so the firefighters are safe."
Neighbors reported hearing several loud booms, including Billy Dotson, who found Johnson on the ground and helped him to a safer location. "I heard a boom," Dotson said. "Next thing you know, I see flame coming over there. I took off running. That's all I could do, because I know the guy in a wheelchair."
Johnson does not think that there was an explosion. "I heard a lot of cracking and popping," he said early Friday. "Sounded to me like more of an electrical problem."
