Texas Deputy Finds Out His Home Burned Down While Out on a Call

A Harris County Sheriff's Office Deputy unknowingly lost his home to a vicious fire while he was out on a life-saving call in the middle of last week's deadly Texas storms.

As last week's deadly storms were rolling in, Augustine Arellano received an urgent call about an elderly woman.

"The call that I was on was an 85-year-old woman with COPD. She just flat-lined," Arellano said.

Arellano did what he could and helped save the woman's life, however, at the same time, destruction in his own home was happening. While out on the call, Arellano's wife had tried calling and texting him about a serious situation.

Arellano quickly called his wife back to check in and received startling news, "I called her back and she was, like, 'A branch came through the kitchen,'" he said.

However, the branch was an entire tree and it split their entire home in half. The situation quickly escalated when the family noticed something starling in the attic.

"They could see the attic and the insulation was on fire," Arellano said.

The fire began to quickly spread and Arellano's wife and their three children had to quickly escape. 

"The youngest one, the 6-year-old, he didn't even have time to grab shoes or anything so they left with what they were wearing," Arellano said.

The family made it out alive and unscathed however two of his son's pet turtles sadly died in the fire.

"Of course, he's heartbroken," Arellano said.

The family set up a GoFundMe page and with the generous help of friends, family, and donors, they surpassed their goal of 10,000 in just a matter of days.