United States (Texas) - A 53-year-old family business went up in flames early Friday morning when the main shop and storage building at Furr's Building Materials was burned to the ground. The Mineral Wells Fire Department and the Mineral Wells Volunteer Fire Department, as well as volunteers from Cool-Garner, Adell-Whitt, Millsap, Graford and Palo Pinto, responded to the fire in the 3500 block of U.S. Highway 281 North about 5 a.m. Friday. Weatherford College also sent a transport tanker equipped for firefighting to help.

Though lumber outside and other outbuildings survived, the main building which housed the store, a warehouse and several small offices was destroyed.

Volunteers with tankers were requested because there was no city water supply near the facility, Mineral Wells Volunteer Fire Department Steve Perdue said.

The family was unable to provide an estimate of the loss from the fire until an insurance representative arrived.

"It's sad to see a lot of history gone," said Juanita Furr, the wife of the now deceased Billy Furr, who started the business in 1956.

Juanita Furr, the owner of the property, sat in a car for several hours at the scene watching firefighters and police work and talking with other family members gathered.

Her son, Kenny, is a part owner and has managed the business, which employs 11 people, for the past 17 years.

"This was a real shock," said Beverly Furr James. "A lot of contractors work out of here. My husband buys a lot of carpet and vinyl."

Firefighters were still at the scene Friday afternoon waiting for the remnants of the building to cool.

The cause is still under investigation, according to Perdue.

Brenda Furr, wife of Kenny, said the building was built in the 1960s and contained hardware, paint, carpet and vinyl. Most of the lumber was stored outside.

Around 10:30 a.m., small explosions could still be heard from the collapsed structure, likely paint cans popping from the heat.

James said her father and three brothers worked at the business over the past 50 years.

"So many young people worked here as a first job," Juanita Furr remembered. "We've never had a real bad fire here before."

No fire hydrant Family members discussed the lack of a city water supply in the area to help fight the fire.

According to information from the city, the area around Furr Building Materials was annexed by the city in the late 1980s, perhaps in 1986.

City staff confirmed the area near the business has no fire protection.

The closest fire hydrant is about a half mile south at Shady Oak Circle.

The city water line across the street from the business is a small 2-inch line, according to Public Works Director Bobby Baker.

"We have water out that way but we don't have water on the other side of the road [near Furr's]," Baker said.

Furr's obtains water from a small line from North Rural Water Supply Corporation and is not billed for water or sewer services by the city.

The veterinarian clinic to the south of the business is reportedly on well water.

Money for water lines and hydrants generally come from the water and sewer fund, which gets its revenue from customer utility bills, City Manager Lance Howerton said. Property tax revenue and sales tax revenue go towards the city's general fund, which pays for things such as street projects.

To provide fire protection with fire hydrants in the area of the business, a 10-inch line would be needed to install a fire hydrant to meet current city standards which would require several thousand feet of larger line to be laid along U.S. Highway 281 between N.W. 22nd Street and the business, an expensive project, according to city staff.

Only in the past 10 years have cities who annex land been required by law to provide a timeline about providing services within city limits, Howerton said. Because the area was annexed in the late 1980s, there is no plan to provide further services to the area.

However, the city has been updating fire protection as they get a chance, Howerton said.

"We don't have the spacing of fire hydrants we would like to have," Howerton said.

"When we do street reconstruction projects, we're putting in fire hydrants [and updating water lines]," Howerton said. "That is something we're routinely doing."

Even in parts of the city that have fire hydrants, some are often connected to lines smaller than the city currently requires for new hydrants because fire protection standards have changed so much in the last 40 or 50 years.

For example, three current fire hydrants will be replaced and three new ones are in the plans for the North Murco street reconstruction project currently happening.

"Typically if its been in place for a while, you don't have the fire protection you want," Howerton said.

Written by Mineral Wells Index