A four-alarm fire Thursday afternoon destroyed the 21-unit Rocky Ridge Apartments and McNabb Chiropractic Clinic. A vacant garage apartment and a separate structure on Lawrence Street, behind the apartments, were also heavily damaged.
Dense smoke, emergency vehicles and hundreds of spectators left traffic on U.S. 259 backed up for several hours.
Kilgore Fire Department received the 9-1-1 call about 1:24 p.m. from Sandy Gertz, on-site manager of the complex, which is located at 231N. Henderson Blvd., behind Clayton's Mini Mart at the intersection of U.S. Hwy. 259 and North Street.
Director of Public Safety Ronnie Moore said the fire started in Unit 13 on the south side the apartment complex.
An official at the scene said the apartment where the fire apparently started was totally engulfed before anyone realized the fire had started. By the time the fire department responded, the fire was out of hand.
Because of high winds, reportedly clocked between 25 and 30 mph with gusts above 40, the fire quickly spread to McNabb's Chiropractic Clinic. That frame structure was quickly engulfed.
"But the time we arrived, the flames had spread into the attic of the apartment and burned through on the backside," Moore said. "The flames jumped to the shingles on the roof of the chiropractic clinic."
Moore said heat from the flames was so intense that firefighters briefly had to back out and fight the fire from a distance. Smoke, pushed by the high winds, spread across Hwy. 259. The highway was closed and traffic diverted through nearby neighborhoods. At one point visibility was virtually nil due to the dark, black smoke from the burning apartment complex.
Heat from the burning clinic was so intense that awnings on the north side of the nearby Sonic Drive-In suffered some damage. Clayton's Mini-Mart also suffered what Moore described as "minor damage. Mostly it will smell like smoke but I think they are planning to open today (Friday)."
A wind gust turned the fire westerly and several houses on Lawrence Street were in imminent danger. Several residents were trying to get their belongs out of the houses in case the structures caught on fire.
A two-story garage/office, owned by Greg Cashen, was heavily damaged.
Electricity for a full block was cut until after the fire was termed officially out.
Moore said the fire was under control by 4:15 p.m. and by 5:30 "most of the hot spots were pretty well out."
Cause of the fire has not been determined.
All Kilgore fire units and the rescue unit were called into service.
"We called in all off-duty firefighters," Moore said.
Fire personnel and equipment from Liberty City, Longview, White Oak and New London were also at the scene.
Gregg County Pct. 3 provided a backhoe and 10 employees to help with the efforts.
"We had students from the fire fighting school working too," Moore said. "They got on-the-job training."
Moore said the fire fighting students from the Kilgore College fire academy across the highway manned hoses, rolled hoses after the fire and helped clean the equipment.
One Kilgore firefighter, Kevin Calvery, suffered from smoke inhalation. He was treated and released from Laird Memorial Hospital. No other injuries were reported.
Moore said reports of "dead hydrants" were false.
"We had all the hydrants in the immediate area connected to equipment," he said. "We had to hand lay line across some of the yards on Lawrence Street to connect to another hydrant, but there were no dead hydrants."
John Anderson and his niece and nephew had lived at Rocky Ridge about eight months. He was at work at the time the fire started.
"My niece and nephew were at home," said Anderson.
As he watched the fire creep from the south end of the apartment complex towards his apartment on the north end Anderson said, "I hope we are able to get back into the apartment by tonight." They were not.
Tenants attempted to get what belongings they could out, removing such items as computers, flat screen televisions and a few clothes.
Anderson said two of the apartments in the complex were vacant.
Before leaving the property, Gertz, checked all the unit to make sure al the tenants were out of the burning building
"One person was in the shower," said David Peters, owner of the property and Gertz's father. "One of the residents was on a respirator and they got him out and to the hospital."
Peters just purchased the property three weeks ago and was in the process of remodeling it.
"We sold everything we had in Australia and invested it here," Peters said. "I want to rebuild but have to wait until I hear from the insurance company."
