Fire destroys East Pine Street home

A Jacksboro couple lost everything in a house fire Sunday night.

Jacksboro Fire Chief Jeremy Jennings said firemen were dispatched to the scene at 309 E. Pine St. at approximately 8:30 p.m.

By the time the fire was extinguished, the chief said the entire roof was destroyed and there was water damage on the inside.

He said the cause of the fire is undetermined but he believes it is electrical.

The home belongs to Carmen Albarran, a Jacksboro Middle School cafeteria worker who has worked with the district for 20 years.

She and her partner, Salvador Aguirre, have put extensive efforts into the home’s remodel.

Aguirre said Albarran was sleeping and he was playing on his iPad at the back of the house when he heard a pop come from the front of the house.

The fire broke out at the top of the front wall along the roof line at a corner of the porch in the attic at a junction box.

“I’ve been working on the house for 3 years,” Aguirre, who works in construction and remodeling, said. “I was almost done. All that was left was the back bedroom and bathroom.

“All the senior citizens that passed by coming to and from the center would stop and say, ‘It’s looking great.’ They’re all stopping by and looking at it now.”

Firefighters cleared the scene at about 2:30 a.m. Monday morning. Aguirre said American Red Cross representatives were on the scene about an hour after it happened and provided them with a motel voucher and information on filing for disaster relief, but the couple has no idea what that will be and the house was not insured.

“There’s probably about $15,000 in materials that we’ve put in it — tile, fixtures, hardwood floors,” he said.

A GoFundMe.com account was set up by one of Albarran’s coworkers to donate to the couple and can be found here.

"I don't know if I should demolish it and start over or try to fix it," Aguirre said.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported the home as being on West Pine Street instead of East Pine Street.