On Christmas Eve, the family renting a new house in Travis County built a small fire with logs in the outdoor fireplace on its covered patio. It was the fireplace’s first use since the house was built, court records show. The family went inside, and their adult son stayed out until the fire died down.
A few hours later he woke to the smell of smoke. The fireplace held only “the remnants of a small fire,” but there was an “inordinate amount of smoke” along the “open air roof line that connects the outdoor living area to the house,” the Third Court of Appeals wrote. Water on the embers did nothing to the smoke.
Then he looked inside the fireplace and saw “a gap between the stone facing of the fireplace and the actual firebox,” glowing debris behind the facing, and “even some flames in [the gap].” He woke the family, and one of the renters called the fire department…