Fire deaths confirmed at Texas homeless shelter

PARIS, Texas — Fire tore through a small-town homeless shelter early today, partially collapsing the building and killing five men, the founder of the shelter said.

The cause of the blaze had not been determined.

Fire Chief Ronnie Grooms said there were multiple fatalities but would not give a number. Police referred questions to Grooms.

However, Don Walker, who runs the group Seed Sowers Christians in Action, said a fire official told him five men had died.

“It’s just really a tragedy,” said Walker, who wasn’t at the 42-bed shelter when the fire broke out. “It’s just some homeless guys that really cared about me and I cared about them.”

Grooms said an alarm sounded at about 3 a.m.. The fire burned for three or four hours and partially collapsed the roof.

“It just blowed up so quick,” Walker said.

The fire started in a storeroom, but officials hadn’t determined the cause, Grooms said. The group recycles cardboard and newspapers at the site to pay for the shelter and soup kitchen, but Walker said the fire didn’t spread to the area where recyclables were being sorted.

“We’re just in shock over the men dying that way,” said Lee Jordan, the wife of Rev. Billy Jordan, a retired preacher who serves on the group’s board of directors.

She said the organization took over the building about 10 years ago and turned it into a shelter.

There were 28 men at the shelter — where men stayed in 10-by-10 rooms — when the fire broke out, Walker said.

“I worked with them every day,” he said. “They were all good guys — every one.”

Walker said that they’d had fire drills and Jordan said she’d never heard of any problems at the shelter.

According to the group’s Web site, Seed Sowers Christians in Action relies on contributions and its recycling to provide services to the homeless and low-income people and provides meals five days a week. It also operates a smaller shelter for women and children at a different location.

Paris is about 100 miles northeast of Dallas.