NEW YORK - Beyoncé's childhood home in Houston was engulfed in flames early Christmas morning.
Firefighters in Houston, Texas’ Third Ward, responded to a raging blaze on the 2400 block of Rosedale Street, in the early hours of Christmas day, according to local station KIAH, reported tca/German news agency (dpa).
They reportedly took 10 minutes to largely tamp down the flames after needing only three minutes to arrive on the scene. The couple who live in the house and their two children were home at the time but uninjured.
What caused the two-story home to catch fire wasn’t immediately clear. The holiday season helps make December the leading month for residential fires in the US, according to the National Fire Protection Association.
The Knowles family, whose eldest daughter Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter grew up to be an international pop star and the winningest artiste in Grammy history, paid US$64,000 for the Houston home in 1981, according to TMZ.
They left the three-bedroom house in 1986 after Beyoncé’s sibling, Solange Piaget Knowles, also a Grammy-winning recording artiste, came along in 1986.
The home features a spiral staircase, three bathrooms and an office. TMZ said a buyer paid US$310,000 for the 8,640-square-foot-lot lot next to the house last year.
Beyoncé performed in Houston twice in September as she wound down her 39-city Renaissance World Tour, which grossed US$579 million.
The "Crazy in Love” singer broke the record for the most wins ever by a single honouree at this year’s Grammy Awards, earning her 32nd gramophone trophy. - BERNAMA