House destroyed by fire
By John Earp
Early last Thursday morning, a house burned at the corner of N. Willis Rd and Adrian Nieto Rd. Jal Fire Chief Nick Moody said the building was fully engulfed in flames when the fire department arrived, adding that, “there was so much damage, it’s hard to determine exactly where it started.” No one was injured, and the house had been unoccupied for many years, being used just for storage. Moody said, “From what I gathered, Mr. Willis left for work about 5:10. Somebody saw the structure on fire about 5:40. They drove to the police department to let them know that there was a house on fire.” Moody said, “So, from them seeing the house on fire to them driving to the police station, by the time we got there, it was pretty much all in flames.”
Moody said the Jal Volunteer Fire Department had a good turnout for the fire, with vehicles including a command truck, two fire engines, a tanker and a grass unit, saying the grass unit was used primarily just to get firefighters on the scene. Firefighters used class A foam to extinguish the fire, following up afterwards every two hours to wet down the smoldering hot spots. Moody said the home was all electric, but said the cause of the fire was still undetermined.
Kent Willis, the owner of the property, said electrical power to the house was supposed to have been disconnected, but that he noticed when the firefighters sprayed water on the ruins of the building, he saw electricity arcing. Willis said the house had been unoccupied for many years. He also said the property was uninsured. He estimated the property loss being between $20,000 and $30,000 in value, including a large collection of knives that he had stored there after his business had closed several years ago, adding that he had hoped to make the old house into a knife shop in the future.
Chief Moody said, “If it came down to it, we could call in the state or some surrounding communities to investigate further, but with no loss of life or anything like that, we’re going to stick with ‘undetermined.’”
