CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A case of déjà vu for Corpus Christi Fire Department firefighters Thursday morning, who were back on the scene of a house fire they fought just 24 hours earlier.
That fire, which affected two homes a few minutes into the new year on Wednesday, took place in the 6500 block of Edgewater, near Ocean Drive and Ennis Joslin.
The initial fire started in the garage of an addiction recovery home. The flames reached a nearby home, at 6049 Edgewater, and it was that home where flames reignited Thursday morning.
The owner of this home was out of town for New Year festivities when he received an alert from his smoke detection system that his home was on fire Wednesday morning. He came back in town and was staying with family Thursday when he woke up to a phone call from police, and his neighbor, that his home was on fire, again.
The fire was discovered by officers with the Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Police Department around 2:25 a.m. Thursday.
Firefighters were able to get the blaze under control around 3:50 a.m.
Investigators said the second fire is what they call a "rekindled" fire, meaning small embers burning from the original fire spread from the neighbor's garage and reignited Thursday's second fire.
The homeowner purchased the house in 2017, and had been newly redone after it was ruined by a previous house fire several years ago.
This time, the home is considered a total loss. The owner tells us he hopes to rebuild.
Firefighters said the cause of the original fire that extended to this property on New Year's Day still is undetermined.
Neighbors said, on New Year's Eve, they heard and saw fireworks going off around the area.
