Bastrop, Tx–Graduation ceremonies were underway Friday evening at Bastrop High School when the fire department responded to a conflagration in the heart of the city’s historic residential district shortly after 8 p.m.
Fire bloomed from a new home under construction on Church Street between the Orgain House at 1508 Church St., at the intersection of Church and Cedar Street, and the Allen-Bell House next door, owned by Henry N. Bell III.
James and Sue Gurka said they were driving in the area when they noticed what appeared to be flames inside the new house and called emergency services minutes after 8 p.m. Volunteers from the Bastrop fire department were on the scene within about 10 minutes, pumping water onto the structure both from fire hydrants on Church and Wilson Streets.
The cause of the fire and the extent of damage to the structure were not immediately known.
Onlookers said heat from the blaze kept them hundreds of feet from the fire in its early stages. A portable toilet on the site for construction workers appeared to be largely melted by the heat.
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