New Caney BBQ restaurant burns before owner delivers Thanksgiving dinner to fire department

NEW CANEY, Texas (KTRK) -- A BBQ restaurant in Montgomery County was damaged by a fire while the restaurant's owner was out delivering smoked turkeys on Thanksgiving Day.

The fire happened at The Rusty Buckle BBQ Company on Community Drive near the Grand Parkway.

At 4 p.m. on Thursday, a passerby initially misidentified the incident as a grass fire, prompting the response of the Porter Fire Department. Subsequent calls began flooding in, confirming the unfortunate reality that the Rusty Buckle was on fire.

At the same time, owner Allen Rhoden was heading back to the restaurant to pick up his last delivery -- an order of Thanksgiving meals for the Porter firefighters.

On the way there, he started getting calls about the fire and raced back to his business noticing a large smoke column in the sky miles away.

When firefighters arrived, they reportedly saw propane bottles exploding and found heavy fire in the rear building where the smokehouse is.

The Porter Fire Department was able to extinguish the flames, but not before it completely destroyed the smokehouse and rear of the restaurant.

The flame's heat melted electric meters and the new air conditioning unit outside. Firefighters stopped the flames from traveling into the building, but the inside suffered smoke and water damage.

Officials believe the fire was caused by a commercial pellet smoker that appeared to have exploded.

No injuries were reported which left Rhoden feeling optimistic.

"We still have more to be thankful for than we do to complain about," Rhoden said. "We're going to rebuild, we're going to clean up, and we're going to keep doing what we do."

Additionally, the incident saved Rhoden a delivery trip. The firefighters took their meals home as they left the fire scene.