The Gazette-Enterprise

SEGUIN — In the wake of a weekend fire that heavily damaged a historic Austin Street home, fire officials sought the public’s help Monday in determining who set that blaze or other similar fires that have occurred over recent weeks.

Seguin Fire Marshal Greg Dreiss and Fire Department Battalion Chief Rusty Krueger acknowledged that a series of recent residential fires may have been intentionally set, but stopped short of saying they believed they’d all been set by the same person.

“We’ve had several fires that were started in similar ways, but we haven’t been able to link them together,” Dreiss said. “We’re working on doing that now. It’s still under investigation at this point.”

Dreiss said any natural cause had been ruled out in Saturday’s fire, which heavily damaged the historic pioneer-era home that was the home of Elizabeth Erskine “Budgie” Hollamon up until her death in 2007.

Hollamon, a renowned educator and author, was a descendant of six pioneer Guadalupe County families — Hollamon, Erskine, Humphreys, Meriwether, Maney and Gordon.

She died on March 6, 2007 at age 76 in the home that burned Saturday night, which was the family residence originally built in 1850.

“We’re trying to sort out just where and when this fire started,” Dreiss said. “We’re trying to determine who might have caused it,”

Krueger said firefighters were handing out Halloween candy when the fire was reported just three blocks up the street from Seguin’s central fire station.

“We had trick-or-treaters at the station, and it took us less than a minute to get here,” Krueger said. “It was fully involved when we got here. It was a fast-moving fire.”

Krueger said the home’s “balloon” construction probably contributed to the damage the house sustained, which he said was heaviest in three rooms.

“Balloon” construction means there are no fire stops in the wall cavities, which run from the floor sills to the roof.

The blaze took about 30 minutes to bring under control, and then firefighters spent several more hours at the scene, working to ensure the fire was completely out.

Krueger said he hoped enough of the residence remained so it could be rebuilt.

“This was a historic home built in 1850,” Krueger said. “That’s what was bad about this.”

Dreiss thanked the firefighters from McQueeney Volunteer Fire Department and the other volunteers, including the city of New Braunfels’ fire marshal’s office, which is assisting with the investigation, and the state fire marshal’s office, which sent a dog and handler to Seguin Sunday to determine if gasoline or some other accelerant had been used in the Saturday night fire.

Dreiss declined to divulge what officials learned Sunday.

“The cause is still under investigation at this point,” Dreiss said.

Saturday’s fire came 24 hours after another that heavily damaged a single family home located in the 500 block of West Kingsbury Street and others on San Antonio Avenue, Kingsbury Street and North Guadalupe Street.

All save the one Friday night involved empty or abandoned homes. In the Friday night fire, the occupants were not home, officials said.

The fires come about seven months after a string of suspicious fires ended last April with the arrest of Dimas Rodriguez, 60.

Rodriguez was booked for arson, and was released on bail Oct. 2 before being re-arrested on Oct. 10 on a minor theft allegation and released again on bail on Oct. 14.

They follow by about a year a series of fires in Marion in which historic sites and local businesses were destroyed or damaged, including Penshorn’s Meat Market, which has since been replaced by a larger facility.

Cody Ryan Cannon, 23, was arrested in connection with some of those Marion fires. He posted $100,000 bail and is free awaiting trial on second-degree felony arson allegations. A pre-trial hearing is set today for Cannon before 2nd 25th Judicial District Judge W.C. Kirkendall.

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