Fire won't stop Jourdanton floral shop from filling orders

Lesley's Flowers determined to prepare orders for Valentines Day, Prom

JOURDANTON, Texas – A weekend fire tore through a floral shop in Jourdanton during the busiest time of the year.

Lesley McMillan, owner of Lesley's Flowers, said when she arrived at her shop Saturday morning, she was greeted by the fire marshal.

"It was a total loss. It was all mostly smoke and heat damage that just kind of melted the whole interior of the building," McMillan said.

An electrical short was blamed for sparking the fire.

McMillan said she's glad no one was hurt or inside the store at the time.

Despite the setback, McMillan is working hard to get orders completed before Valentine's Day.

"At this time, this is our busiest week, bar none, out of the year," she said. "And so, to suffer a loss at this time, we're trying to persevere on, but we're starting at ground zero as of yesterday."

She said the community and rival florists are stepping up to help her.

The Tymrak family offered her a temporary space to continue making her floral arrangements.

"It really couldn't be a more perfect set up. We got a lot of space in here to work," McMillan said. "We were able to bring our refrigerated truck with the flowers over. So beyond grateful to them to help us through this transition."

With Valentine's Day and Jourdanton High School prom this week, McMillan is shifting her focus to make sure that her customers are taken care of.

"My first thought was, we have taken money from a lot of people this week, we have orders to fill," she said.

Thanks to a refrigerated truck, McMillian said she was able to save all her fresh flowers and 75 arrangements that will be ready to deliver as early as Monday.

Invoices for Valentine's Day were spared in the fire, but the prom orders are destroyed.

McMillan said customers who placed an order are asked to call her at 830-769-3585.