Posted: Wed, 6 Jan 2016 09:23 AM - 39,825 Readers

By: Rachel Rice

Lake Travis Fire Rescue extinguished a house fire on the 13800 block of Lakeview Drive on the afternoon of Jan. 3, but ultimately the home was determined to be a complete loss, according to a press release from Emergency Services District No. 6.

Around 4:20 p.m. on Jan. 3, units responded to a smoke investigation and then to a reported structure fire in the Comanche Trail area, the press release stated. First responders arrived to find a single family residence fully involved in a fire so advanced crews had to fight the fire from outside the home.

“After 45 minutes, the fire was ruled under control,” the press release reads. “The house was ruled a complete loss. The fast action of all the fire units kept the fire from advancing up the hill side to other homes.”



The owner of the home was next door during the fire, the press release states, and was not injured.

“(The cause is) undetermined based on the fire burning up a lot of the evidence in the investigation we would typically look for,” LTFR Chief Robert Abbott said. “It’s difficult to pinpoint what started the fire, but the value lost was $100,000 including contents.”

The LTFR press release also credited the good fire flow from nearby hydrants in playing a critical role in preventing the spread of the blaze. The hydrants, maintained by Travis County Water Control and Improvement District No. 17, are original hydrants that have not been replaced since their initial installation, WCID17 General Manager Debbie Gernes said. She attributes the strong fire flow to the 1,000,000-gallon storage tank near Comanche Trail.

“There was a lot of danger and probability of adjacent homes catching and igniting based on the tree canopy down there,” Abbott said. “The area has a lot of vegetation over the roadway and up to people’s property, not to mention (being) on the side of a hill incline helps the fire spread tenfold. In those conditions, if we had a stiffer wind … and a little more dryness, it could have been a significant community fire.”

The fire department isn’t always able to respond as rapidly as they did, Abbott said, and he encourages homeowners to create a “defensible space” around their home by clearing out brush.