Balch Springs

Homeowners Reflect and Survey Damage the Day After Balch Springs Fire

Neighbors echo that while what happened is terrible, they're glad no lives were lost

NBCUniversal, Inc.

On Tuesday, homeowners in Balch Springs began to survey the damage inside the Spring Ridge neighborhood where a grass fire damaged 26 homes.

Nine of those homes are considered a total loss. On Tuesday morning, the fire chief said the fire damage totaled about $6,056,300.

Rev. Fred Jackson's home is one of them. He was running errands when his home of 12 years was engulfed, sparing only a single wall. Jackson, an associate pastor at Greater Golden Gate Baptist Church and bus driver for Wylie ISD, is working with the Red Cross for temporary housing so he can resume work when school starts.

"Just trying to get ready to go back and transport these kids so the quicker I can get back in a stable situation, the better," said Jackson, who returned to his home Tuesday.

“This is our real first good look at it in the daylight," said Monica McNeil whose home is on Bell Manor Court. It backs right up to the field that caught ablaze on Monday.

"We are absolutely beyond amazingly lucky, I mean look how close it is here, my neighbors on the other side it bubbled their paint," said McNeil who lost her fence.

On Tuesday, homeowners got their first look up close at what's left of their homes from the fire that officials say caused more than $6 million in damage Monday in Balch Springs.

The mother of two said they could see the flames jumping across the field and got dangerously close to their home. She described how a tree about 50 feet away burst into flames.

"You could hear the roar, I've been to bonfires and what not, I’ve never heard anything roar like that. I’ve never felt a heat like that," said McNeil.

The father of her two sons said their oldest son, Duwayne, called him about what was going on.

“It’s a call I never want to get again," said Michael McNeil. “He said, ‘Dad keep your ears up and your truck running. I said, 'What's going on?' He said a firetruck just came into the neighborhood and there’s a grass fire out behind the house.”

The two boys, their mother, dogs and two kids who had evacuated from a nearby home that also was damaged.

Balch Springs Fire Chief Eric Neal said it's believed to have started after a commercial mower hit rocks, throwing sparks that caught the grass on fire.

"It really was unexpected, but the way conditions were yesterday with the winds, of course, the high grass line in the back, pushing this way, it was a disaster waiting to happen," Neal said.

Neal along with the mayor, Carrie Gordon, surveyed the damage and spoke with residents in the neighborhood on Broadview Drive, one of the heavily hit areas.

"It's hard to see it. Then when you see citizens that have lost and they're looking over to the other side of what they once had, it's heart-wrenching," said Mayor Gordon. She said they're working to allocate resources to help neighbors for weeks to come.

Neighbors like Wanda Blanchett-Ware, whose home on Broadview Drive is a complete loss, said she wasn't home but saw the smoke while driving. As she got closer, she saw the flames were bigger than her home and rushed to get home, because her adult son who works night shifts was asleep.

Because first responders had blocked off the road, she had to go on foot.

"So I had to abandon my car, take off running to get here and beat on the window to get my son out because he was asleep and there was no way he would have been able to get out," said Blanchett-Ware.

Despite the long road ahead due to the damage, neighbors echo that they're glad there wasn't any loss of life.

“We’ve been here since 2003 and it’s a loss, but it’s not a big loss for me because I have my family," said Blanchett-Ware.

"If anybody didn't believe there was a God before yesterday my neighborhood proves that there is," said McNeil.

Read more about how you can help those affected by the Balch Springs fire.

NBC 5's Meredith Yeomans contributed to this report.

Contact Us