A homeowner is asking if her Elmo home could have been saved had a train not been parked, blocking both entrances to the neighborhood.
Officials said the fire started in the bedroom and spread throughout the home, destroying all her family's belongings.
"I believe that if the train had not stopped or at least one crossing was open, I think the house would have been saved," Hazel Mosely told WFAA.
The Union Pacific Train prevented firefighters from Elmo Volunteer Fire Department, stationed just a quarter-mile away on the south side of the railroad tracks, from responding.
Assistant Fire Chief Greg Rushing said firefighters responded within three minutes, but they "were delayed by the train for 13 minutes because they were blocking the tracks."
"It engulfed three-quarters of the house," Rushing told the television station. "Where we could have probably contained it to one to two rooms."
He asked the dispatcher to call the railroad to move the train, which was stopped to allow other trains to travel on those tracks.
The railroad disputed that claim.
"In our initial investigation into this incident, and after listening to taped conversations between the crew and our dispatchers, we have yet to uncover any indication that we were contacted by anyone to move the train to accommodate firefighters," a spokesperson from Union Pacific said.
The chief said the next closest route to avoid the parked train would have taken at least 20 minutes.
