MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas—Cold weather-related calls in Montgomery County kept firefighters busy over the weekend.
Area fire departments responded to 117 calls for service on Saturday. That’s more than a quarter more calls than usual.
The most serious calls were house fires.
“It’s tough, it’s tough,” said Spring homeowner Julie Faust. “It’s destroyed.”
Faust’s home, located in the 2100 block of Pincher Creek Dr. in Imperial Oaks, burned down around 9 p.m. Saturday. No one was home at the time. Investigators believe her home heater sparked the fire.
“(It was) probably running so hard in this cold weather, a lot harder than it’s used to,” said Faust.
Faust said she thought she took all the cold weather precautions. She wrapped her pipes, placed a carbon monoxide detector inside her home and turned off her space heaters when she left her home. She says she’ll now take even more precautions next time.
“I do have to admit that I don’t have my yearly checkups on my equipment. Every two or three years I do. I didn’t have a yearly check up this year so probably in the future we’ll have the AC Company checking the unit every year,” she said.
Another fire was reported in the 27000 block of Orth in the City of Oak Ridge North. Investigators say the fire started in the chimney.
There was also a serious fire in the 4700 block of Jackson Rd. in southwest Montgomery County. Fire investigators believe a space heater sparked that fire.
“Space heaters are designed just to (supplement) heat. They are not designed to heat an entire house,” said Montgomery County Asst. Fire Marshal Scott Burlin. “You should never go to sleep with a space heater on. You should really turn that space heater off if you leave the room.”
No one was seriously injured in any of the fires.
Other weather-related calls included broken pipes, water line breaks and several false alarms.
