Lightning struck on the corner of Alexander and Jack Gray in Pilot Point on April 30, right on top of a house in town.
The home at 9375 Jack Gray Road went up while the rain came down, resulting in an attic fire which saw a response from the Pilot Point Fire Department and a slew of mutual aid.
“Anytime we get a structure fire that is a working fire, we’re always going to get us, Aubrey and either Celina or Sanger,” Assistant Chief Bryan Cox said. “Until our city is bigger, it takes other cities to help us to put enough people on the fire ground.”
The crews saved the building, Cox believes.
“I can’t imagine they would bulldoze that one and start over,” Cox said. “Upstairs took the bulk of the smoke damage, but I believe with some effort the property is salvageable and able to be reoccupied. We had a good outcome on that day.”
Despite a saved building and a contained fire, the event did result in a second alarm, though Cox explained it was called after the firefighting had concluded.
“The reason we called for a second alarm is because all the guys that were there had gone through a couple of bottles, so they were starting to get fatigued and we still needed to pull some walls and ceilings to make sure it was out,” Cox said. “We called in some fresh bodies to do some of the manual labor at the end of the event.”
