Did divine intervention play role in dry cleaner fire?
Did divine intervention play a role in a fire that raced through a dry cleaning store? Maybe, but police and fire crews might be the ones who really got burned in the blaze at West Gray and Crocker.
You'd expect 5:00 to be busy at the corner dry cleaners. But customers of Up to Date Cleaners were in for a surprise Tuesday.
A closer look at the pile of debris left from the burned-out shop revealed something -- lots and lots of blue.
"I saw the boards on the windows and thought they had gone out of business," said Brian Wyka. "Look a little closer and they are definitely out of business, burned down."
It was 3:00 a.m. when the fire department got the call that Up to Date Cleaners was burning, fully involved.
But a closer look at the pile of debris left from the burned-out shop revealed something -- lots and lots of blue. On hand were lots of police officers, but they weren't there to investigate. They're customers.
"A lot of officers use this location because it is centrally located to the downtown area," explained Sgt. Larry Crowsen. "So there were a lot of police uniforms in there."
Thousands of them.
The blue was not just for police. Fire crews flocked there, too.
"It's going to be a disservice to everyone in the community," said Antwyne Johnson with the Houston Fire Department. "We are just here to support him and his family."
But they were there also to investigate. Arson is suspected in connection with the fire.
But the biggest surprise would come for Father Brendan Pelfrey from Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church. He came to comfort the owners who are members of his congregation. "I said, trying to be a little humorous, if it was a bad time to pickup my cleaning."
There was a single survivor. Father Pelfrey's vestments, hanging alone on a rack. The plastic bag melted and was stuck to the hanger. But the cloth was pristine.
"In the church things are sanctified, made Holy," said Father Pelfrey. "This ought to be a sort of sign to us. It's all hand embroidered."
Protected, the father said, by another hand.
One of the reasons there were so many officers' uniforms inside the cleaners is the post Super Bowl rush to get back up to speed.
Investigators are looking into the cause of the fire. According to the storeowners there are questions whether the store may have been targets simply because of the police uniforms.