DENISON, TX-In Denison, two houses caught fire Wednesday. That morning, a home on Chandler was damaged and in the afternoon, a large fire burned a house on Crawford street to the ground. Flames and smoke were seen for miles as neighbors ran outside to protect their own homes.

The fire at the house on Crawford street threatened three other homes, so Denison firefighters actually shut down the street in the 1000 block Wednesday afternoon. We talked to neighbors who saw the flames from their front lawns.

Richard Burr was shocked to see the smoke and flames spilling out of the house next door.

"It's scary. I can't imagine what it's like to the neighbors next door, that's a really nice brick home. I don't know the extent of the damage, it's really scary. It's the first fire I've ever seen," he said.

Burr lives just across the street from 1015 West Crawford and he said he just prayed the embers wouldn't catch his own home on fire.
Some even brought their garden hoses out to protect their homes from the flames.

"You just hope it won't happen to you. And I was telling myself, can you imagine what it'd be like to be away shopping, going out to dinner and have a nice time and go home to something like this. It's gotta be devastating," he said.

"The fire started somewhere what it looks like in the middle of the house, that's where the fire broke out and the smoke. The extent of the damage, the roof is completely burned in."

Denison Assistant Fire Chief, Bill Ray said the owner had recently moved out so there was no one inside when the fire started around 3:15 Wednesday afternoon.
Neighbors reported seeing thick smoke coming out of the attic.
Ray said all that smoke made it even harder to fight.

"Smoke was a great big obstacle, it was difficult. Of course we have the equipment to deal with that but it was hard to see, another thing was getting enough water," he said.

With the fire and smoke shooting over ten feet up in the air, firefighters had to watch out for surrounding homes.

"This house was going to be a full bloom at some point and the concern was high for saving the exposed houses, we concentrated on that part of it," he said.

Firefighters got the flames out by about 7:30 and no one was hurt.

Ray said the Denison Fire Marshal is investigating what started the fire.

This was the second house fire in Denison Wednesday. Ray said the two fires are not connected, but both are under investigation.