LITTLE ELM — A 6,700-square-foot house on U.S. Highway 380 burned to the ground Sunday evening, said Little Elm Fire Chief Joe Florentino.

About 40 firefighters from 10 different agencies including Sanger, Krum and Aubrey were called out shortly after 6 p.m., he said.

DRC/Candace Carlisle

Little Elm, The Colony and Frisco firefighters work to extinguish a fire that consumed a 6,700-square-foot house on U.S. Highway 380 in Little Elm on Sunday evening. Homeowners Bob and Faith Penley said they had been building the house incrementally over the past 30 years.

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Those fire departments helped extinguish the three-alarm fire, dousing flames with more than 54,000 gallons of water, but they were unable to save the half-million-dollar home, Florentino said.

“It’s a complete loss,” he said.

The two-story house was in the 26000 block of U.S. 380, within the Little Elm city limits.

There are no hydrants located nearby, and other fire departments had to help haul in water, which is one reason so many agencies were called to help, Florentino said.

“We mainly had a water shuttle operation — there were no hydrants,” he said.

One eastbound lane of U.S. 380 was shut down as numerous emergency vehicles parked alongside the road.

The cause of the fire is under investigation. Two firefighters were injured in the process of trying to save the building, Florentino said.

DRC/Candace Carlisle

Firefighters work at the scene of a house fire on U.S. Highway 380 in Little Elm.

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“We have one firefighter cut on the hand and one had heat exhaustion,” he said.

Firefighters were expected to work the fire until about 10 p.m. Sunday.

Owner Bob Penley, 75, was the only one inside the house when the fire started.

Penley said he was watching golf on television when he first saw the smoke.

At first, he assumed it was his wife cooking dinner, but when he followed the smoke, he saw the flames licking out of his wife’s sewing room, Penley said.

“I couldn’t get within 10 feet of the door — smoke was billowing out,” he said. “That smoke was really terrible.”

Penley ran outside to call emergency officials. He was comforted when he located his wife and son outside the burning home, he said.

Before he ran barefoot outside, Penley laid his glasses down. He said he guesses they’re gone, along with his shoes.

Penley, a former pilot, said he and his wife had been building the house slowly over 30 years and it was still unfinished.

Two cars were engulfed in flames and totaled, he said. But the couple has fire insurance.

Penley’s wife, Faith, put her hands to her lips as she studied the remains of the fire, shaking her head.

“It’s just hitting me,” she said. “We lived out here 30 years … all my pictures on the computer… but we’re safe. That’s all that matters. But we don’t have any clothes … any car keys, no purse. Everything’s gone.”

CANDACE CARLISLE can be reached at 940-566-6889. Her e-mail address is ccarlisle@dentonrc.com .