A townhome went up in flames in Pleasant Grove on the Fourth of July as a result of illegal fireworks being set off in the neighborhood.
The townhome’s resident, Carolette Barnes, told Fox 4 KDFW that she tried to get ahold of emergency services by calling 911 but was unable to reach anybody after multiple attempts.
“The whole time I’m calling 911, I’m just getting a recording. That’s all I’m getting,” Barnes said. “I got a dress on, got to the door and said, ‘Someone call 911! My place is on fire.'”
The incident occurred off Lake June Road in Council Member Jaime Resendez’s District 5.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, concerns over illegal fireworks and random celebratory gunfire loomed ahead of Independence Day. Lagging police response times added to an already fraught situation for neighborhoods that routinely deal with such criminality, prompting some residents in Oak Cliff to hire off-duty police officers to patrol their neighborhoods on July 4 — an initiative shown by business owners in Fort Worth’s downtown area, which suffers from significantly less crime than Downtown Dallas.
The Dallas Police Department (DPD) is currently short hundreds of officers, which has hindered its efforts to tackle the city’s crime problem. Dallas Police Association President Michael Mata previously told the Dallas Observer the city could use as many as 4,000 sworn officers, a figure corroborated by a City analysis that stated “2.66 to 3.08 [officers] per 1,000 citizens” constitutes an adequate staffing level for a city the size of Dallas.
“All of a sudden, I heard popping at the window. And I thought it was hailing, raining, hailing so fireworks would stop. I went back to what I was doing. It got louder and harder. Thought the window would break out,” Barnes said to Fox 4.
Barnes said she looked out her window and saw “orange and red.” She called 911 three different times but could not reach anybody for minutes. Luckily, a neighbor had managed to reach emergency services roughly 2 minutes after Barnes’ first call.
Authorities reportedly said that illegal fireworks were the cause of the fire, which severely damaged the townhome.
According to The Dallas Morning News, three other structure fires were reported on July 4 — all alleged to have been caused by illegal fireworks.