By Ashley Sanders

The News staff writer

GROVES — A Groves family fell victims to misfortune Tuesday night as their single-story home went up in flames.

Both the Groves and Port Neches Fire Departments responded to an emergency call in the 4300 block of McKinley Avenue shortly before 9:15 p.m., according to a Groves police officer at the scene.

The house was engulfed in flames by the time the firefighters arrived.

Tyler Lagrappe, a neighbor and witness to the blaze, said he believed the home’s inhabitants were out of town and not inside the house when the fire started.

“I don’t think anybody is in there,” Lagrappe said as he watched firefighters work inside the smoke filled house from his own front yard. “We heard the sirens and came outside. The firefighters got here really quickly.”

Lagrappe added that another home located only a few doors down caught on fire just a few weeks ago.

“We are beginning to get used to seeing fire trucks on every corner,” he said. “It’s kind of becoming a bad omen.”

With smoke still billowing out of the front door of the home at 10 p.m., firefighters continued to battle the flames as Lagrappe and other neighbors looked on.

Authorities do not believe anyone was in the home when the fire broke out. The cause of the fire was unknown as of press time.