Candle blamed for mobile home blaze
Three people were displaced and one firefighter was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries from the fire.
FROM STAFF REPORTS
BURNET — Investigators blame a “bad candle” for a blaze May 6 which displaced three adults and caused non-life threatening injuries to a Burnet firefighter.
The blaze was reported at 3:11 p.m. on May 6 in the 1000 block of CR 340.
Multiple fire agencies battled the blaze which destroyed an 840-square-foot, single-wide manufactured home and a 24-foot motor home adjacent to the structure, according to City of Burnet Fire Marshal John Erskine.
“It was an accident … It was a bad candle that had burned unevenly, so the wick was gone and she tried to use match sticks to make a new wick,” Erskine said. “She lit it and left (the room), it overheated, folded over, got out of balance and then fell over onto the couch.”
The woman escaped the fire, and a second person was outside when the fire erupted, he said.
“A litter of kittens died of smoke inhalation. The mama cat survived,” Erskine said. “One volunteer firefighter suffered from heat exhaustion, and he was taken to Seton Highland Lakes.”
The firefighter’s injuries are considered non-life threatening, he added.
Erskine stressed candle safety.
“Don’t leave candles unattended. Keep the trimmings, matches and debris away from the wax pool, and don’t burn a candle all the way down,” he said.
editor@thepicayune