• Allison Miles •
• Originally published May 13, 2008 at 9:27 a.m., updated May 13, 2008 at 9:27 a.m.

Dolores and Tom Pena stood inside their garage, sifting through a drawer full of charred envelopes, papers and keepsakes.

“Oh ...” Tom murmured as he attempted to unfold a set of papers, only to have the burnt corners fall off.

The elderly couple’s one-story light brick home, which is situated off U.S. Highway 87 between Nursery and Thomaston, maintained extensive smoke damage after it caught fire Monday evening, said Roger Hempel, battalion chief with the Victoria Police Department.

The cause remains under investigation.

The call came in at about 5 p.m. When the fire department arrived at the scene, workers discovered heavy smoke flowing from the house’s front door, Hempel said.

They went inside to find the home’s back bedroom on fire.

Dolores said she couldn’t really say what happened.

“I don’t know what caused it,” she said, wiping black soot from her hands. “I was out in the yard and when I looked back, I saw smoke.”

When she realized what was happening, she ran inside to save her Bible and called for help.

It took about 10 minutes to extinguish the fire, Hempel said. The only room that maintained extensive damage was that back bedroom where it all began.

Inside, walls were blackened and ripped apart. Charred insulation hung from the ceiling and walls, while firefighters’ ashy footprints showed their trail on the light-colored carpet.

Down the hall and away from the fire, however, very little evidence of the blaze existed.

Dusty footprints still marked a path through the living room and a bit of black smoke was evident near the ceiling. But family pictures still hung on the walls, a porcelain doll sat untouched, and the linens laid out to protect the couch cushions remained clean and white.

Allison Miles is a reporter for the Advocate. Contact her at 361-580-6511 or amiles@vicad.com, or comment on this story at www.VictoriaAdvocate.com.

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