A volunteer firefighter sprays the house on FM 905 southeast of Paris that was destroyed by fire on Tuesday. (eParisExtra photo by Josh Allen)
Volunteer firefighters battled a severe house fire on Tuesday that almost spread to surrounding homes in the area but was contained after hours of fighting by many volunteer fire departments.
The house — located a few miles southeast of Paris on FM 905 — belonged to Paris Police Department officer Jeff Padier and was destroyed by the flames. Officer Padier was not in the home at the time of the fire. Neighbors said he had not been staying there for some time, but it is believed that many of his belongings were in the house.
The fire spread to the pasture behind the house but was stopped within feet of other houses in close proximity.
According to a volunteer firefighter from the Biardstown Volunteer Fire Department, who was one of the first to arrive on the scene, it is believed that the house fire was started as a result of a neighbor burning trash that was blown by the wind to a shop connected to the house, however here will be further investigation into how the fire started.
When the firefighter arrived, the shop that was connected to the south side of the house was well involved in fire, which was quickly spreading to the roof of the house, he said.
A neighbor called 9-1-1 reporting the fire after seeing smoke. Firefighters received the call just before noon.
Within minutes volunteer fire departments from Blossom, Reno, Biardstown, Faught, Deport, Cunningham and other communities were there to help extinguish the flames. The American Red Cross, Paris EMS and Lamar County Sheriff’s Department were also on scene.
Paris Fire Marshal Dale Maberry was also on scene and told eParisExtra that he was there to determine if any Paris FD units were needed and that he would assist in the investigation into how the fire started but would turn it over to the volunteer departments due to the house not being in the Paris jurisdiction.
No Paris units were needed and the volunteer departments contained the fire after a couple hours.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to Officer Padier.
By Josh Allen, eParisExtra
