Fire destroys Moran house
By Sam Waller
An uninhabited home in Moran was totally destroyed by fire in the early hours of Thursday, Jan. 12, but major damage to nearby structures was avoided.
Elements of the Moran, Albany, and Shackelford County volunteer fire departments responded. Albany VFD Capt. Joel Viertel said the call was received at 3:36 a.m. with two city and two county units responding.
Viertel said the structure, located at 210 Austin St. in Moran, was a total loss by the time local units arrived on the scene.
“The Moran department was called out first, but any time Moran has a structure fire, we roll,” he said.
Albany VFD Lt. Casey Kimbrough and firefighter Rob Bennett also responded to the call.
“The county rolled two trucks,” Viertel said.
The home is listed on tax rolls as being owned by Carroll Wayne Hogan. No cause has been determined.
Viertel said Shackelford County sheriff’s deputy Jason Price reported the availability of a working fire hydrant, negating the need for a tanker truck.
“Responders had to run about 300 feet of large-diameter hose from the hydrant to the fire,” Viertel said.
He added that Moran firefighters played a critical role in preventing the fire from spreading.
“Moran was well represented – they had six guys there,” he said. “They protected the house north of the fire and put out some grass fires that were spreading. The wind was blowing hard, and they stopped it before it got to a trailer house downwind.”
Viertel said the nearest structure was within about 15 feet of the blaze, while others were several hundred feet away.
Viertel said the fire was almost burned out by the time local units arrived.
“The house was probably one of the most effectively burned houses I’ve ever seen, even though it was unintentional,” he said. “You couldn’t have planned it that way. Everything was burned inside the footing, just a pile of coals with sheet metal on top of it.”
Shackelford County commissioner Lanham Martin also helped control the blaze, Viertel said.
“Lanham came in with a backhoe and removed sheet metal from the top of the burning embers so we could get in there and soak them down,” he said. “All we did was make soup inside the footing. We just kept putting water down.”
