Fire destroys Port Aransas houses

By Dan Parker
dan@portasouthjetty.com
A wind-whipped fire destroyed six houses and heavily damaged two others today, Friday, Oct. 9, in one of the largest blazes in Port Aransas history.
The flames tore through the Private Marina neighborhood before dawn. No injuries were reported. Most if not all of the houses were high-dollar vacation homes that are believed to have been unoccupied at the time of the fire, according to Scott Mack, chief of the Port Aransas Volunteer Fire Department.
No one has been reported missing, but firefighters were sifting through the ruins of houses this morning to make sure there were no victims.
The fire was reported about 3:10 a.m. Firefighters were mopping up at 7 a.m.
Winds of at least 25 mph helped the blaze spread from house to house. Neighbors watched from atop their roofs as 20-foot flames shot skyward.
Dozens of firefighters converged on the scene as fire departments from Corpus Christi, Portland, Ingleside, Rockport, Aransas Pass and others came in to assist PAVFD.
Tarrant Street and Cotter Avenue were closed to traffic at Station Street as firefighters tried to keep people away from the area of the fire.
No exact addresses of the homes were available, but Mack said the blaze started at a house on Private Road D. Two houses on Private Road D and four on Private Road A were destroyed, he said.
Private roads A and D each had one heavily damaged house, Mack said.

On Private Road A, which borders the ship channel, destroyed homes belonged to the Edith McAllister family, Walter Negley, John Streiber and Jack Scholl, according to county land records.

On Private Road D, homes that were destroyed belonged to John Sowell and Ralph Gilster.

A damaged home on Private Road D belonged to Russell Hill and a damaged guest house on Private Road A belonged to Richard Sparr, according to records.
All of the structures were vacation homes owned by out-of-town residents.

Mack said he didn’t know the cause of the fire. The investigation has been turned over to the state fire marshal’s office, he said.
Firefighters were seen pumping water from the ship channel to aid in firefighting efforts.
Asked if there was enough fresh water to fight the fire, Mack said, “Yes and no. We didn’t have the water required to overcome the wind, was the problem. We had hydrants established on (Private Road) D and had hydrants established on (Private Road) A, and we had to draft from the ship channel, and had some issues with that.
“But,” Mack added, “because of the winds, I don’t know it would have been possible to have enough water, no matter what.”