North Richland Hills firefighters battle house fire in extreme heat

Firefighters in North Richland Hills battled a house fire in Friday’s extreme heat.

The hot situation became even hotter and more dangerous for firefighters.

"The water breaks are really instrumental for the guys to keep hydrated,” said Steve Rucker with the fire department.

The family who lives at the home and their pets got out safe.

Moments before the massive fire spread, witnesses say a heavy tree limb fell onto power lines in the back yard and sparked the flames.

"You could hear all the popping and short circuiting causing the electrical in less than two minutes,” recalled neighbor Roy Deaver.

"They had flames shooting out both ends and out of the entire roofline,” Rucker said. “And we had smoke and flames start to come out through the door."

The extreme conditions prompted firefighters to rotate every 15 minutes during a record breaking heatwave in North Texas.

"The guys try to stay hydrated before these calls come in,” Rucker said. “We're fortunate it was in the morning. So hopefully we get most of this mopped up before the heat of the day hits."

But even then, the mercury was already hovering around 100 degrees and well above that in full protective firefighting gear.

No injuries were reported.