Fire destroys PA home
Published 1:09 pm Wednesday, January 24, 2018
- Flames break through the roof of a home in the 2200 block of 12th Street as firefighters work to extinguish the blaze on Wednesday. Mary Meaux/The News
A Port Arthur family was able to make it to safety after a Wednesday morning house fire.
Eric Durousseau, one of the family members living in the two-story home in the 2200 block of 12th Street, said the family was at home when the fire broke out.
“I woke up and couldn’t breathe,” Durousseau said from a spot across the street while watching firefighters work to extinguish the fire. “I tried to break the door, cut my hand. I’m worried about the house, I’m not worried about me.”
Clifton Parker, a neighbor who knows the family, was on his daily walk when he smelled smoke and heard sirens. He investigated and saw that the family got out ok, he said.
Port Arthur Fire Battalion Chief Mike Free said they received the call around 10:22 a.m. and fire and smoke was showing when they arrived. Four engine trucks and a ladder truck responded and no injuries were reported.
The home has one main story and a second story added on; the fire likely started in a wall but the cause remains under investigation.
Port Arthur Fire Chief Larry Richard, left, listens to his emergency communications radio as firefighters prepare to enter a burning home in the 2200 block of 12th Street
Mary Meaux/The News
Port Arthur firefighters look into the window of a burning home in the 2200 bock of 12th Street Wednesday.
Mary Meaux/The News
A Port Arthur firefighter, who had just used a ax to widen an opening on an area of second story of a home, looks inside.
Mary Meaux/The News
A Port Arthur firefighter is seen through a smoky haze during a house fire in the 2200 block of 12th Street Wednesday.
Mary Meaux/The News
