By Vanesa Brashier, editor@bluebonnetnews.com
Firefighters from 10 local fire departments joined efforts Thursday afternoon to combat a fire that destroyed a workshop on the 800 block of 770 in Raywood.
The fire started around 3 p.m. in an enclosed shop behind the home of James LaChapelle, according to Hull-Daisetta Fire Chief Memo Gomez.
“It was approximately a 30 X 60 shop that was used to store farm and yard equipment, tools and other items,” the chief said. “The building is a total loss.”
The origin of the fire is unknown and may be impossible to determine as everything is burned, he said.
“All of the tin that was on top of the roof fell in and was extremely hot, so we spent quite a while trying to cool it off. We had to remove all of the tin to get to the bottom of the fire to extinguish the hot spots,” he said.
No other buildings on the property were threatened, the chief said.
Assisting Hull-Daisetta VFD were Tarkington, HWY 321, Cypress Lakes, Hardin, Devers, Liberty, Batson and Dayton fire departments, and Liberty County Fire Marshal Bill Hergemueller.
“I want to thank every department and firefighter who came to help us today. I personally shook everyone’s hands. Without them, we couldn’t have done it. Volunteers are becoming so scarce in our volunteer fire departments,” said Gomez, whose full time job is performing safety inspections on pipeline projects for ExxonMobil.
Gomez said that donations of water and Pedialyte are always welcome and can be dropped off at the station on FM 770 in Daisetta.
Note: Photos were contributed by John Chadwick.
