Fire guts Montgomery showroom, sends firefighter to hospital

Video from The Conroe Courier
By T.L. Hamilton, The Courier of Montgomery County
A futon showroom and warehouse caught fire around 4:30 p.m. Thursday, causing an estimated $150,000 in damage. Officials said crews from four fire departments battled the blaze at Quality Sleep Shop, which resulted in one firefighter being taken to Conroe Regional Medical Center for injuries due to smoke inhalation and heat exhaustion. No other injuries occurred.

Lou Freitas, public information officer for Lake Conroe Fire Department, said the firefighter was in stable condition as of 10 p.m. Thursday.

Oliver VanHoesen, manager of Quality Sleep Shop on Texas 105 near McCaleb Road, said he discovered the fire when he walked a customer to the store’s new futon showroom and warehouse facility behind the original mattress store.

“I heard a lot of whooshing in the back warehouse part, so I went to go check the door,” he said. “But when I got to it, I could tell there was a fire behind it – it blew toward us, and we ran.

“It’s really scary to come upon. I thought it was something we could put out. But the fire was pushing it open, and I realized it was really big and it had been going a long time.”

VanHoesen said the warehouse section, where the fire started, stored the majority of the company’s furniture and products.

“We’d just gotten a shipment in,” he said.

About 50 feet from a stack of charred futon mattresses, EMS and officials with the Montgomery County Hospital District distributed wet washcloths and sports drinks to about two dozen firefighters after the blaze had been extinguished.

“It’s more than 100 degrees out here right now,” said Freitas.

Neither VanHoesen nor owner Cory Walters knows what could have caused the fire.

“I’m not real sure exactly,” Walters said. “We don’t know a lot about what went on right now, but we’re learning as we go.”

Freitas said the cause of the fire was still unknown when crews left the scene at 8:30 p.m., but that the fire marshal would do some further investigation.

Lake Conroe Fire Department was the first agency to respond. Freitas said they arrived at the fire within three minutes of the 9-1-1 call. Crews from North Montgomery County Fire Department, Conroe Fire Department and Montgomery Fire Department also responded, and The Magnolia Fire Department sent a rehab vehicle to provide drinking water and supplies.

Posted on: Sunday, June 1st, 2008.
Filed under Gulf Coast, Statewide News.
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