Fatal fire in Poteet





A fire burned a home on Melcher Lane in Poteet on Monday, December 23 around 2:30 p.m. Poteet, Rossville and Jourdanton firefighters rescued a 93 year old Martha Melcher but she passed away due to her injuries at San Antonio Military Medical Center.

A fire burned a home on Melcher Lane in Poteet on Monday, December 23 around 2:30 p.m. Poteet, Rossville and Jourdanton firefighters rescued a 93 year old Martha Melcher but she passed away due to her injuries at San Antonio Military Medical Center.

A structure fire destroyed a double wide mobile home and led to the death of a 93 year old Martha Melcher on Melcher Lane just south of Poteet at 2:30 p.m. on Monday, December 23.

Poteet Fire Chief Curtis Adams said he had just returned from work on Monday when he got the call. Adams says he donned the firefighter gear he keeps in his command vehicle and arrived at the scene. Poteet Police Department Officers were there, trying to find the trapped woman, but could not enter the burning building. Adams went in alone, hugging the walls as he searched through what he says was “pitch black” smoke, but was unable to find her. Jourdanton and Rossville fire trucks were on their way.

Just as Adams and three other firefighters were about to enter the burning building, the fire “flashed over”, meaning that the fire inside the building had heated all the materials around it to their flash points and suddenly caught fire simultaneously. Adams said the force of the flashover knocked him backwards back onto the porch.

The firefighters pushed the fire back, and after making some headway into the house, Adams found the elderly woman lying face up on the floor, with burns on her face and chest. He yelled for the other firefighters, and they rapidly extracted the woman from the house, transferring to Atascosa EMS, who in turn gave her to Airlife transported her to San Antonio Military Medical Center (SAMMC). Chief Adams says that the last report he received indicated that the woman passed away at SAMMC, due to her injuries.

Chief Adams said that the cause of fire is still under investigation.


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