Two Lubbock families were displaced Thursday after a fire destroyed their mobile homes.
Homeowners, who did not want to be interviewed, briefly told us the fire started around 1:09 pm in the backyard of Stephanie and Dennis Hill’s home on the 5700 block of 148th street.
The homeowners, who live next door, tried putting out the fire with their water hose but said they had no luck, the wind was too strong.
Stephanie Hill’s parents said a neighbor notified Hill of the fire and to get out of the home. Her husband was at work and her 9-year-old daughter was at school.
A neighbor across the street, Rayna Garner, told us she tried calling 911.
“It wouldn’t go,” Garner said. “This has been a disconnected number. I hung up and tried again, it did the same thing.”
Woodrow, Wolfforth and Slaton Volunteer Fire Departments responded. The Lubbock Fire Department and Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office also assisted.
The home, out in the county, was not near a fire hydrant and fire trucks had to keep leaving the scene to fill up the trucks, before they could return and deposit the water into a pool built in the middle of the street.
The lack of water was not the only challenge firefighters faced, the wind caused the fire to jump from the first home to the home next door to the east.
“I thought, ‘Oh my God’ with this wind that fire is going to get everything in it’s path,” Garner said.
This is the home of the neighbors who initially tried to put out the fire. They told us three adults and 10 dogs lived in the home and all were able to get out safely.
Neighbors said the fire did jump a fence and caught another man’s front yard on fire but firefighters were able to extinguish the flames before it destroyed any other homes.
The Red Cross said they will assist both families with food, clothing and shelter.
