On Tuesday, February 5, 2008 at 2:00 pm Murphy Fire Rescue was notified of a structure fire at 400 Huntington Dr in Murphy. The initial units began arriving 5 minutes later. All known occupants and pets were out of the home upon arrival. With this information, crews entered the home to attempt fire containment. Upon arrival, heavy smoke was showing from all attic areas of the structure. Minutes later, the flames broke through the roof of the attic of the first floor and the smoke conditions on the second floor worsened.

After an aggressive interior attack on the fire by Murphy and Plano crews failed to improve conditions, the order to pull all interior crews out of the home and attack the fire from exterior positions was given. Aerial ladders from Richardson and Plano were utilized to make this exterior attack.

Once the main body of fire was extinguished, crews with hand lines were ordered back into the home to finish extinguishment and begin salvage operations. A secondary search for any victims was initiated at this same time.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation at the time of this release.  Early indications are that this could be related to the storm cell that came through Murphy near the time of origin. Further investigation will be necessary to confirm this as a cause of the fire.

Initial estimates on the loss for the homeowners is set at $350,000.00 for the house and contents. The family’s insurance carrier had already established temporary residency provisions for them prior to the last units departing the scene at 5:39 pm.

Contact:
Assistant Chief Mark Lee
Murphy Fire Rescue
206 N Murphy Rd
Murphy, TX  75094
972/468-4343