Vacant house in east Austin burns early Friday

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin Fire crews put out a house fire in east Austin early Friday morning.

It's unclear what caused the fire was at 1205 Fort Branch Blvd., but AFD said the home was vacant and no injuries were reported. AFD tweeted a photo of the home at 12:47 a.m. Arson investigators are at the scene, AFD Division Chief Steven Truesdell told KXAN.

The home is in a neighborhood close to Springdale Park.

AFD's Eddie Martinez told KXAN on Thursday that the department is prepared to respond to not only fire emergencies but also for broken pipes and arcing power lines. While this year's storm isn't nearly on the scale of what happened in 2021, Martinez said AFD applied lessons learned from last year to this time around.

Martinez said AFD is overstaffed right now and both shifts are in good shape and ready to be dispatched whenever they need to be.