COMFORT, Texas — A Comfort restaurant is gone and people’s homes nearby were destroyed in a fire.
A fire occurred at the Fati Café on Highway 87 between in comfort around 2:45 am on Sunday.
The fire, which investigators do not believe is suspicious, spread to nearby apartment buildings—but all residents were safely evacuated.
Various people in the city of Comfort are rallying to help those who lost everything.
Brenda Barron had very little time as a fire spread fast between her building and a nearby restaurant.
“Somebody was banging on my door and they were saying ‘get out, get out now,’” Barron told KENS 5.
Barron got her two dogs out of the place she’s called home for at least 12 years. She asked firefighters to get her keys so she could still move her truck.
“The ceiling and everything is in my apartment,” Barron said.
Barron was able to get a warm meal at Emanuel Lutheran Church.
After getting clothes and blankets from the American Red Cross—Barron says she felt blessed, but also misplaced.
The one thing she could not save were her husband’s ashes.
“I don’t have a home to go back to but that’s just material things, I can just be thankful that I’m alive,” Barron said.
The Kendall County Fire Marshal says Sunday morning’s fire ripped through Fati Café, formerly known as Manny’s Cafe.
The fire displaced 14 residents of the Hatchery apartments and one firefighter had a minor foot injury, according to the fire marshal.
Investigators say the fire may have started in a storage shed between the restaurant and apartment units.
Comfort VFD, Center Point VFD, Waring VFD, Sisterdale VFD, Turtle Creek VFD, Boerne Fire Department, and the Kerrville Fire Department assisted in the response.
Roughly 60 to 70 firefighters were on scene, the fire marshal says.
Other volunteers chipped in during the aftermath across the city.
“I have a crew, we work here [at Emanuel Lutheran Church] all the time with the food ministry, I got my two girls and said 'come on, let’s go cook,'” Dotti Haley of Comfort Table and Food Pantry said.
Haley and some volunteers provided meals to the first responders.
Haley and her crew were cooking breakfast tacos for residents who are now staying at hotels and local bed and breakfast spots.
Haley says it's not unusual for people to step up and help their own.
“Comfort jumps in wherever it's needed, it doesn’t matter how big or how small, they’ll be there to help people out,”
The help gives Barron hope she can move on.
“Everything is replaceable except your life, and that’s not replaceable. It was in God’s hands, that’s why we’re here today,” Barron said.
The fire marshal says the American Red Cross was contacted to assist residents with temporary housing.
It's estimated the damage is worth $500,000.