COFFEE CITY, Texas -- An early-Thursday-morning house fire has left a family of five displaced and a firefighter receiving medical treatment after part of the structure collapsed.
Coffee City Fire Chief Chris Moore said the fire began this morning at a home on County Road 4217, possibly from a lightning strike.
"Everything was stacked against us this morning, but sometimes that just happens," he said.
Moore said Henderson County's communications tower in the Coffee City area was down for several hours due to the storms and that caused a problem with being dispatched to the fire.
"They finally called me on my phone and I was able to dispatch our firefighters by paging them on some Alpha pagers the city recently purchased for us," he said.
Moore said when firefighters arrived on the scene the structure was fully involved but an interior attack was made.
It was during this time that the 30-year-old firefighter was injured when part of the roof collapsed on top of the man.
"He was wearing all of his gear and he was hit in the helmet. EMS was not giving him oxygen or anything like that, but he was transported for precautionary measures only and we believe he will be OK," he said.
Moore said the home was a total loss and the family lost all belongings.
"I have the Henderson County Fire Marshal en route to assist in the investigation, but I believe this fire was started by a lighting strike," he said.
Republished with permission of The Tyler Morning Telegraph.
