Possible Explosion Causes Mobile Home Fire near Lake Brownwood

The mobile home roof was partially blown off, left hanging only from one side of the residence. The walls remained but flames from the explosion caught the tall grass around the mobile on fire. No explanation of what caused the fire was available.

The beauty shop next to the mobile home on County Road 603 near Lake Brownwood didn't sustain any damage but had a short blink of the electricity according to owner Cookie Rutherford.

"The lights flickered and we thought it was a sonic boom. It was real loud, but sounded like it came from behind the beauty shop," said Rutherford. "Then we heard two more booms."

A customer was getting a perm and stated that Cookie had just washed her hair when Randy, Chief of the Lake Bridge Volunteer Fire Department, showed up to see if everyone in the salon was uninjured.

The blast came as quite a surprise to the unsuspecting women.

"I've lived here about 30 years and this is the most excitement we've ever had," said Rutherford.

Rutherford said that the previous owners had gotten behind on taxes and that the property has been vacant for at least 4 years. She said the grass was really tall and she reported it to the Brown County Sheriff's Office in hopes to get it cleaned up, but she was told the property now belonged to Brown County. Rutherford said she has been trying to get the property cleaned up for about 8 months, and has called and left messages for her commissioner, which she says have not been returned.

"Hopefully now that this has happened, maybe it will be taken care of," said Rutherford. "It was a nice place years ago before it became vacant."

Rutherford stated that she worries about the property being vacant and the fire danger that the tall grass poses. She was appreciative of Randy and the firefighters who quickly responded for extinguishing the fire before it threatened her property.