Approximately 1:15 am Porter Fire Department was dispatched to a house fire in the 12300 block of West Knox. This is one block west of US 59 and between Northpark and FM1314.
When they arrived they found a twenty-foot travel trailer in a mobile home community almost totally incinerated. In addition, three victims were found outside. All three suffered from serious burns.
Montgomery County Hospital District arrived and called for two helicopters to respond to the scene. Medics treated one man and one woman both in their late teens or early twenties. Both were severely burned.
The male was transported with the first Lifeflight Helicopter to Hermann in the medical center in critical condition. According to Montgomery County Assistant Fire Marshal Scott Burlin, the victim who was in his late fifties suffered second and third-degree burns over sixty percent of his body. The female was treated at the scene with the same type of injury and transported to Hermann Medical Center by ground ambulance. The other make was treated on the scene and transported by helicopter in serious condition.
According to Burlin the older man who is a painter was in the travel trailer cleaning his paint spray gun with paint thinner and smoking a cigarette. The water heater turned on and the pilot light reacting to the fumes created a violent explosion.
The Fire Marshals office will continue to investigate the incident.
