March 16, 2018 - Center Firemen were dispatched to a house fire in Land's End housing development located off FM 2026 early March 16, 2018 at 6am.
The house was located on Penny Lane at the residence of Bonnie and Maxwell Whitley, and when the firemen arrived smoke was emanating from within the structure.
Firemen got to work locating the origin of the flames and first began working to gain access to the attic at the peak of the house. Other firemen at the side of the house located flames in the garage of the home. Once able to gain access to the garage, the firemen began directly addressing the fire.
The majority of those flames appeared to be coming from a gas powered golf cart. Before it could be removed from the garage, a lawn mower parked behind had to be pushed out and a tow strap was attached to the golf cart so it could be pulled out using a fire department pickup truck.
Once the firemen had the fire in the garage and the attic extinguished, the remaining smoke in the structure was blown out using high powered fans.
It was discovered in the house, after the fire was out, the pop off valve on the hot water heater in the house blew and caused flooding.
The firemen returned to the station at 9:30am. The residents were not home at the time of the fire. A cause of the fire was not yet determined at that time.
David Masterson, a resident of Land's End and President of the housing committee, has property just near where the fire occurred. According to Masterson, a Deep East Texas Electric Cooperative transformer was destroyed on Sunday, March 11, and this resulted in damage to electrical systems within some homes in the housing development.
He stated, as it was his duty, he informed all homeowners within the community of what had occurred by letter and visiting them at their doors. He suggested all homeowners within Land's End need to be proactive in attention to their homes needs, including their electrical systems, as most of the homes in the community are aging.
Deep East Texas Electric Cooperative is only responsible for the power lines leading to the meter loop. Any electrical from the meter loop to the inside of the home is the responsibility of the home owner.
