Barbecue Pit Causes Fire to Home on 46th Street

At this time, San Angelo firefighters are battling a blaze at 612 E. 46th Street.

The call for a structure fire came in at approximately 2:30 p.m., and upon arrival, SAFD found the structure engulfed in smoke.

Based on scanner chatter, the fire was in the attic.

During the battle, all firefighters were ordered out of the building to replenish their oxygen.

By 3:10 p.m., they were overhaul.

As SAFD attempts to deal with this fire, officials are asking people to avoid the area.

We will provide more updates as they occur.

Update 3:41 p.m.

Currently, AEP is on scene and was able to disconnect power to the home. SAFD firefighters had to demolish the back side of the home to continue fighting the fire.

Fire Marshal Ross Coleman is also on scene. Sources say, unofficially, the fire may be "barbecue related."

Update 3:54 p.m.

Battalion Chief Ricky Long with SAFD said the fire involved a single-story structure, approximately 1,600 square feet. He said there was a fire in a barbecue pit that got into the back wall.

"That preceded into the eave line and got into the attic area," explained Long. "On our arrival, we had fire on the back wall in the eave line itself and in the attic area."

Long said the attic area has been used for storage, and there was a large amount of combustibles in the attic itself. In the initial phase, firefighters couldn't make a final attack because they could not shut the electric off.

"For reasons unknown to us, it did not work," Long said.

However, once AEP got on scene, they took the triplex down, and when there was no power to the structure, they pulled the meter and were able to take the back wall off the house to finish extinguishing the fire.

Long said there were no injuries, and he has his firefighters currently cooling down and getting fluids into them. He added that they did save four cats.

At this time, SAFD is in the investigation and overhaul stage to make sure all hotspots are taken care of.

Long added that the home did receive smoke damage throughout, and the main living area, the kitchen, the back wall and the attic suffered flame damage. He said if he had to guess, they will have to take the roof off and start over in specific areas during repairs.

Long said he has not been able to confirm whether or not the homeowners have insurance.

He said they had three fire investigators on scene, three engines, a medical intervention unit and a command truck. A total of 16 people were on scene.

They have also used 1,000 to 1,200 gallons of water thus far to battle the fire, and are doing cleanup for about another hour.