Steven Santana
San Antonio Express-News
(TNS)
Aug. 12—Firefighters in Orange, east of Beaumont, responded to a fire at the home of former Seattle Seahawks and Texas Longhorns player Earl Thomas on Thursday afternoon, August 11. When firefighters with Little Cypress Fire and Orange County ESD 3 arrived, they saw heavy smoke and flames at the southeast corner of Thomas' home, reported Beaumont station 12 News Now.
Chief Matt Manshack with Little Cypress Fire told 12 News Now that firefighters couldn't get close to the home when they arrived because of the heaviness of the smoke and fire. He said they had to fight it "defensively."
Neither Thomas nor anyone else was home at the time of the fire and Manshack said that the house was a total loss. Manshack isn't ruling out lightning and 12 News Now said lightning strikes were seen on their radar data in the area.
Thomas played for the Seahawks from 2010 to 2018 and helped the team win Super Bowl XLVIII. He signed with the Baltimore Ravens in 2019 but was later released in August 2020 after he got into a fight during training camp with his teammate Chuck Clark. He played college football for the University of Texas at Austin from 2007 to 2009.
The home in Orange, where Thomas grew up, was his second. He also owns a home in west Austin, according to the Austin American-Statesman. The Statesman also reported that a judge issued a felony warrant for violating a protective order from his estranged wife and children.
The warrant alleged that Thomas sent threatening text messages to the woman and refused to follow the protective order, which called for him to communicate with her through a co-parenting phone app. Thomas told ESPN in April that he wants to play for the NFL again.
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