Fire devastates family home in Bayou Vista

BAYOU VISTA, TX (KTRK) -- A family says an electrical golf cart plugged in near their house may have started a devastating fire last night in Bayou Vista.

The fire happened while the family was sitting down to a holiday dinner. More than 20 adults and children were inside the home when one of the children saw the flames and started screaming.

Those screams saved lives.

Everyone inside the home made it out alive, including two adults who were trapped in a lower level of the home.

But the family says when they made it outside, things were chaotic.

Survivor Annie Titterington said, "You could see the fire coming up on the windows. And so then everyone then turned and sprinted out of the house. Everyone was just screaming and crying and like, everyone thought there were still people in the house and it was really scary because it was hard to know who was here and it was hard to keep track of everyone."

The fast-moving fire gutted the home on Blue Heron Drive.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Eyewitness News has learned the Bayou Vista Police Department gave Easter baskets to the children whose home burned last night.

Bayou Vista Police Chief Larry Whittingdon wrote to us, "We did have a terrible fire last night. The house was a total loss. Members of my team acted promptly this morning and tried to ease the minds of the children involved in that fire. We are a community-based police department and I am very proud of my employees that have stepped up and handled a bad situation with some positive actions. Thanks for covering this story and shedding light on the positive side of police work."