Thursday, May 9, 2024
What caused the historic Nutt House Hotel to catch fire in the early morning hours of Thursday, March 2 remains a mystery even after an investigation by Granbury Fire Marshal Kevin Jones.
The Hood County News obtained a copy of Jones’ 16-page report through open records.
The hotel on the southeastern corner of the square, built in 1893, was just weeks from reopening after a lengthy remodel by owner Cindy Thrash Nobles when it sustained severe damage due to fire.
Nobles is a descendant of Granbury’s first mayor, Patrick H. Thrash.
According to Jones’ report, Kim Williams spotted the fire while on her way to work and phoned 911. Multiple fire departments from across the county helped battle the blaze, which was determined to have started on the second floor where painters had been working the day before.
Based upon interviews conducted by Jones, a painter had painted one door upstairs and another had worked to install a wainscot wall in the middle of the cross hall.
Jones stated in his report that “nothing of any evidentiary value was located on the first floor” and indicated that the same was true of the second floor.
The fire marshal wrote that he collected samples of wood cove base and floor area that were burned through and sent the materials to Armstrong Labs in Arlington for testing.
He said he received a report from the lab on April 5.
“The report advised that the debris was negative for ignitable liquids,” he wrote. “With the findings from the lab and no other evidentiary products found the fire has been ruled as undetermined in the cause of the fire.”
