Woman hospitalized after blaze

A Clarendon woman was hospitalized for smoke inhalation after an early morning fire broke out in her home Monday, March 29.

The Clarendon Volunteer Fire Department was dispatched at 6:05 a.m. to the home of Judy and Orsbain Perkins, located at 706 E. Second; and Donley County Deputy Sonny Morasco was first on the scene and helped get the residents to safety.

Judy Perkins and her sister, Ruby Hearn, were transported by to Northwest Texas Hospital in Amarillo by Associated Ambulance Authority, where Hearn was treated and released.  Mrs. Perkins was later flown to University Medical Center in Lubbock, and the family was hopeful she would be released Tuesday. Mr. Perkins was not injured.

First Assistant Chief Jeremy Powell said when firefighters arrived on the scene, fire was coming out of all windows and doors on the north side of the residence.

“The living area of the home was fully engulfed and beginning to vent through the roof of the residence,” Powell reported. “The kitchen area located in the center of the residence was involved with fire and heavy smoke.”

Powell said the bedroom area south of the kitchen was not involved with the fire but did receive heavy heat and smoke damage.

The fire was quickly brought under control, and firemen remained on scene until after 8 a.m.  The residence sustained heavy fire and smoke damage. 

CVFD responded to the blaze within seven minutes, and a total of 23 firemen and seven units responded.

City Fire Marshal Kelly Hill said late Tuesday that he and the state fire marshal’s office had investigated the fire, and Hill said the origin of the fire appears to have been in the living room and appears to have been electrical.

A fund for the Perkins has been established at the Donley County State Bank.
Both eastbound lanes of US 287 were closed for more than one hour while fire units occupied them during the fire.  Some local residents may have temporarily been out of power as AEP/SWEPCO interrupted power to the residence for the firemen’s safety. 

CVFD recognized the Donley County Sheriff’s Office, TxDOT, the Associated Ambulance Authority, and Anndria Newhouse with the Clarendon Firebelles for their assistance during this case. They also acknowledged George Hall and the Donley County VFW Post for serving a late breakfast to the firemen.

The city’s firemen have been very busy the last few days. Also on Monday, the department was called to the Clarendon Dairy Queen to investigate the smell of smoke, responded to a grass fire which got into a pile of lumber next to a workshop at Jim Shadle’s residence west of the city, and was dispatched to a residence on Collinson Street reporting the smell of natural gas.

Previously on March 26, the department responded to a residence in the area of 4th and Jackson where a discarded cigarette caught a trash can on fire; and on March 28, Clarendon and Hedley units responded to a grass fire call on the LOL Ranch on FM 2471 that was started by wind damage to a power pole.