On Tuesday afternoon, November 3, 2009, around 5:30 pm, a fire occurred at the residence of the City of Roman Forest Mayor, Floyd Jackson and his wife Susie Jackson. The home and most of its contents were for the most part destroyed by the ensuing fire. Jackson, who has been the Mayor of Roman Forest for 10 years, says that he and his family have lived in this house for 25 years. Roman Forest is a small city located in east Montgomery County, a few miles north of Kingwood, off of Highway 59. No one was at home at the time of the fire.
New Caney Fire Department received the alarm at around 5: 38 pm. The house was heavily charged with smoke upon the Fire Department’s arrival. Fire was concentrated in the rear center of the downstairs of the home. At one point during the fire, flames could be seen at least 20 feet above the roofline. Once the fire broke through the ceiling of the kitchen, it spread into the void space between floors and quickly spread throughout the void space and into the garage attic.At around 5:51 pm a second alarm was sounded, calling for more firefighters and equipment. In all over 20 fire apparatus responded to this fire. The fire was brought under control at around 6:30 pm. The home sustained extensive fire damage to the kitchen and adjacent areas. Heavy water, smoke and heat damage was also present throughout both floors of the house.
Fire Marshal’s Office investigators spent Wednesday morning examining the home to determine the cause of this fire. It was determined that the fire originated in the kitchen, on or around the stove top. There were no injuries reported at this fire.
Ms. Jackson stated that she changed the batteries in her smoke alarms on Sunday the 1st, which was the day that Daylight Savings time changed. According to Scott Burlin, Assistant Fire Marshal, “Changing the batteries of your smoke alarms when you change your clocks back is a practice that is highly recommended, by not only the Fire Marshal’s Office but the entire fire service. We cannot emphasize enough for Montgomery County residents to make sure that you have working smoke detectors in your home. If this fire had occurred in the middle of the night without smoke detectors in the house, the outcome would have been very different”.
Scott Burlin
Assistant Fire Marshal
