AUSTIN, Texas - Texas state officials say a four-alarm fire has caused "catastrophic" damage to the Texas Governor's Mansion in Austin. Governor's spokesman Robert Black says said no one was inside the 150-year-old home when the fire began shortly before 2 a.m. Sunday. He says the cause is not yet known.
The mansion had been undergoing a $10 million renovation and Gov. Rick Perry and his wife had moved out last fall. Black says the damage to the mansion "is extraordinary, bordering on catastrophic."
He says more than 100 firefighters are at the scene and the roof of the mansion is very unstable.
Just damn. This is a great old house, used by every governor since Sam Houston (take your hat off when you read that, please). It is not the governor's house, it is MY house, and every other Texas citizen's. Governor Rick Perry (aka "GoodHair" and the "John Edwards of the Republican Party") was only a temporary tenant. He moved out last fall so the place could be refurbished, a process which will obviously take on a new dimension now. |