Two families in Collinsville are out of their homes after a fire that witnesses said began with a car exploding in a carport Monday evening, according to reports from KXII and KTEN.
The fire started on Hackney Street, in the 400 block, a little after 5 p.m. KTEN put the time at about 5:19 p.m. Neighbors told firefighters the vehicle blew up inside a carport built onto one of the houses, and the flames spread from there to a second home.
Collinsville Fire Chief Damon Stewart told KTEN that a witness reported the explosion. Several departments answered the call. KXII reported that the Whitesboro Fire Department took charge of one house while Collinsville firefighters worked the other.
It took crews roughly three hours to put the fires out, KTEN reported. Firefighters saved portions of both houses, but both families were displaced, according to KXII.
Nobody was inside either house when the fire started. Firefighters rescued a dog from one of the homes. A cat died.
