By Joel Langton
The 830 Times
A house sitting at the corner of First Street and Avenue J was destroyed Monday when flames tore through the aging structure.
“It burned fast because it was old,” said Lt. Donald Merkle, an
assistant fire chief with the Del Rio Fire Department.
According to Realtor.com, the duplex was built in 1940.
Merkle said crews responded within 10 minutes, but by the time firefighters arrived, the home was fully engulfed. The city sent four firefighting units, a command vehicle and 15 firefighters to battle the blaze.
The property had a long, troubled history. The city had recently cleaned the lot following citizen complaints about neglect. It was also under review by the Building and Standards Committee, which could have ordered the structure demolished, said John Atnipp, Del Rio’s neighborhood services director.
However, when a fire renders a building a health hazard, city policy allows immediate demolition. Within hours of the blaze, crews with two bulldozers were on site leveling the 1,521-square-foot duplex.
Police and firefighters had responded to the home numerous times in recent months. Two officers directing traffic at the scene said police had been called there more than 20 times in the past six months.
Merkle confirmed the fire department had also made numerous medical runs to the address — all tied to drug use.
A man who lived at the residence said those staying there were just trying to survive.
“People who live here just want to eat every day and enjoy life some,” he said. “I’m here because I don’t want to go back to prison. I’ve already spent nine years there, and I don’t want to go back.”
He said he and his girlfriend often fed others in need. “We feed five or 10 people here every day,” he said. “The people who live here, they don’t have anywhere else to stay. We’re going to be homeless tonight, but everybody who lives here has been through worse than this. We’re going to be okay.”
He had once dreamed of building an Olympic-size sand volleyball court and a handball court in the front yard. But that vision faded as bulldozers tore through what remained. Within three hours of the fire call, the lot that once supposedly held his dream was being reduced to rubble.
The writer can be reached at JoelALangton@gmail.com
