By Anita Miller
The Hays County Fire Marshal issued a release Wednesday morning ruling the fire and explosion at a Dacy Lane Barn on Nov. 27 was accidental in origin.
Losses were estimated at $10,000, said the release, which was sent by Fire Marshal Scott Raven to the county’s public information officer Laureen Chernow, who disrupted it to area media.
Raven said a resident was smoking a turkey in a smoker with a difficult to close door, and that embers were caught by north winds and spread to the barn and a travel trailer that was inside it.
No mention was made of a propane tank that was initially thought to have ignited.
Raven did say the fire spread to another outbuilding and another vehicle before it was contained but that a nearby home was saved.
Raven’s release came two days after he told the Hays Free Press that it could be weeks before the investigation was concluded.
