Posted on 06/08/2008 5:52:34 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
Fire destroys Texas governor's mansion
12 minutes ago
Texas state officials say a four-alarm fire has caused "catastrophic" damage to the Texas Governor's Mansion in Austin.
Governor's spokesman Robert Black says said no one was inside the 150-year-old home when the fire began shortly before 2 a.m. Sunday. He says the cause is not yet known.
The mansion had been undergoing a $10 million renovation and Gov. Rick Perry and his wife had moved out last fall.
Black says the damage to the mansion "is extraordinary, bordering on catastrophic."
He says more than 100 firefighters are at the scene and the roof of the mansion is very unstable.
Our state is booming, while the rest of the country is not...so we are doing something right down here pal.
And if illegal immigration is affecting the whole country, why should border states be the only ones to foot to bill to deal with it?
Get a clue!
Why do people like you have to turn every thread into a border discussion! A piece of Texas history just went up in flames and you show up whining about borders!
Unbelievable!
nmh,
Are you a Texan? If not then this is none of your business.
Most states if not all have Governor mansions. Don't personalize it. I think the people PAY enough for crooked politicians. I'm tired of it. I want some CONSERVATIVE ACTION out of these clowns. If it takes burning down a building - so be it.
Hitlery moved out as much valuable and historic memorabilia as she could. I doubt that all was returned.
Nope.
It is my business when it involves money and your state in particular winks at ILLEGALS. I’m sick of it.
Or maybe that should be "renovation + carelessness = fire"
Yeah, maybe.
Our state is booming, while the rest of the country is not...so we are doing something right down here pal.
And if illegal immigration is affecting the whole country, why should border states be the only ones to foot to bill to deal with it?
Get a clue!
Why do people like you have to turn every thread into a border discussion! A piece of Texas history just went up in flames and you show up whining about borders!
Unbelievable!
LOL!
Where to begin ... LOL!
You believe whatever makes you feel good.
Yeah, thanks, FRiend. We’ve been forced to tolerate the pleasant Yankee demeanors such as yours since 1865.
I know that’s why I frequent FR, is to get my daily dose of irate bashing for no apparent reason.
You’re welcome.
Consider leaving the union too.
Well, we know it wasn’t a space-heater.
He just suffers from ‘Texas Envy’....LOL
So sorry about your beautiful mansion. I hope you get to rebuild it. I may be a “Yankee”, but I do love to say, “God bless Texas”!
If you aren't a Texan then this is absolutely none of your business. It costs you nothing. Worry about your own state that probably robs you with a state income tax. Texas is the 43rd least tax burdened state in the Union.
Get your nose out of our business.
Part of Perry’s plan for the Tran-Texas Corridor. The mansion stood in the way.
More likely it’s connected to the revnovations. In the past few years, too many historic renovations have had fires as they approach the end of the job. Careless workers, failure of oversight by contractors.
In Prince Georges County, MD a few years ago the historic courthouse was near completion of a mega renovation when it burned down. So sad to see that kind of damage to those wonderful historic buildings.
That’s true too.
They’ll eventually figure out how it happened.
“But how does such a fire cause near total devastation?”
I am not sure, am not an expert .. but these fires seem to break out overnight when the building is not occcupied, and they probably don’t have alarms built into the building yet, so the fire advances rapidly with no one to report it until it’s too late.
Again, that gets back to careless workers just wanting to get home at the end of the day, and not doing the closing down properly, leaving an environment for fires to start.
I used to be an arson investigator, and it's pretty much a given that anything involving ANY kind of repair or renovation work is probably negligence on the part of a contractor.
Most common cause of a fire during a renovation is a careless plumber using a torch on copper pipe without taking proper precautions. A lot of the wood in this structure is old, probably heart pine. If a plumber was sweating a pipe with a torch without an asbestos mat behind his work, he ignited a section of wood. It'll smolder for hours and then burst into flame.
Back to the topic -- the mansion and grounds were beautiful. I remember then Governor Bush extended Texas hospitality to dignitaries from all over the world at the mansion. If I recall correctly he held a press conference there when he announced he was a candidate for president.
Ol' Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown rented his own place when he was the governor of California.
Not surprising, at least to me.
Here in Iowa, the old territorial capitol is at Iowa City, on the grounds of the university. During renovation, “asbestos abatement”, workers using acetylene cutting torches removing asbestos managed to set the building on fire, destroying most of the contents including a walnut spiral-staircase, etc.
That’s why i didn’t mention the groups by name. There are so many of them.
Ditto. Let's hope there was enough foresight to do so.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.