Losses estimated at $350K after Ezzell area home leveled by fire Saturday

A fire and likely explosion at a weekend home located in a heavily wooded area in the farthest reaches of southeastern Lavaca County past the Ezzell community on Saturday, Sept. 9, will result in an investigation by the state fire marshal’s office, local fire officials reported.

Stephen Grahmann, chief of the Hallettsville Fire Department, said Saturday’s initial report came in just before 9 p.m. as a large brush fire out in the Ezzell area, but dispatchers would later send updates change the call to a structure fire as he and 15 other firefighting volunteers were enroute aboard the first of six firetrucks used to battle the blaze over the next 3 ½ hours.

Grahmann noted in his fire report that the first thing he noticed, pulling up to the residence located at 1527 County Road 444, was that all the walls were gone. “The metal roof was on the ground on top of the fire,” he wrote in his report. “The fire was burning under the roof,” which only worked to superheat the flames below it.

Grahmann described how he divided up his forces to quench the blaze, and how Hallettsville’s 16 men were soon joined by two more firetruck crews from Sweet Home. Together, they dumped some 8,000 gallons of water on the structure and nearby trees before it was extinguished enough for them to pull the roof away and work on the hot spots beneath it.

The fought the flames until nearly midnight, when the first of the crews returned to the Hallettsville station. By that time, neighbors had made contact with the home’s owners and they were on scene as well, reportedly having left just that morning.

The structure, owned by Ken Lester of Port Lavaca, was a total loss, Grahmann reported. No cause could be determined which is why Grahmann decided to contact the state fire marshal’s office. They were supposed to come sometime next week to conduct their investigation, the report said.

The local chief noted, twice in his report narrative, that the roughly 2,500-square-foot structure was an all-electric dwelling, and that no propane tanks could be found anyplace, both during and after the fire.

Despite that fact, the neighbor told the firemen that he first noticed that the place was burning after hearing what he believed was two loud explosions that came from the house.

Chief Grahmann estimated losses at about $325,000— $300,000 for the structure itself, and about $25,000 for its contents. The place was insured, and it remains under investigation.