Wednesday, March 25, 2009

My Grandpa's House in Meadow

The above picture was about a year ago when Matt and I were on the way to St. George to celebrate our anniversary. We stopped in Meadow, a small town, where my grandpa was born and raised. My great-grandpa built this house and even made the bricks. My grandpa was born there.
Anyway, on sunday my parents got a call saying that the house had caught on fire.
Yesterday they went to assess the damage.

I just thought this picture was kind of cool with the school bus in the background. The house didn't actually burn to the ground (Those were some tough bricks) but the inside is completely gutted. The insurance is counting it as a total loss.

Here is the story from the Millard County Paper
Home in Meadow burned Sunday
by Dean Draper
Aaron Richards left church early responding to a message his home was on fire. Harold Beckstrand watched from across the street as his grandfather Joseph Beckstrand’s house came to an inglorious end. The brick house was being consumed by a stubborn fire. “We were at church when the neighbors called. We’re renting the house. We are grateful our dog “Rebel” got out,” said Richards.
Meadow resident Jim Talbot said firemen entered the house to determine if anyone was inside. A fireman picked up the dog which promptly bit him causing him to free the dog. Rebel ran outside and was recovered by another neighbor. A neighbor noticed the flames and smoke on the back porch. They called the Meadow Fire Department who turned out in force. High winds contributed to the spread of a fierce fire throughout the brick house on 100 South in Meadow. The fire quickly spread through the 100+ year-old structure. It was soon totally engulfed in flames. Calls were sent out for assistance from Kanosh and Fillmore. Delta was summoned to bring men and equipment to form a “Red” team.
Richards and his wife Destiny moved a few items the firemen had been able to rescue to her parent’s house. Alan and Koni Erickson provided moral support as their daughter’s home continued to burn.A persistent flame kept going in the attic. Teams climbed on the roof to get access to it extinguishing it several times only to have it re-ignite. It was visible from holes in the roof and one prominent hole at the peak of the roof.About 2:00 p.m. the fire was mostly subdued as a strong storm front moved in from the south.

8 comments:

Laura Dawn said...

Crazy...I wish that I could have gone with you to see the house. Strangely, right now I feel somewhat of a longing to go to Meadow. I have some good and not so good memories of that house(the spiders).
But, overall the memories are good. I am glad that the house isn't completely destroyed. I imagined the worst.

Becky said...

I'm so sorry that this happened. Thank goodness no one was hurt. I can imagine the loss your family feels. Yea for good brick.

Jaime said...

wow, that's so sad. but, so good that you and matt went there and have that photo to preserve the memory.

Kim said...

That's too bad it looks like it was a pretty cool house in it's day. Neat story about the bricks. No one was living there were they?

Diana said...

How ironic that this happened on Sunday while they were at church. Here in Springville, a missionary from our ward was in the middle of his homecoming talk when someone came in and whispered to his family that their home across the street was on fire. Imagine reporting on your mission and having your entire family get up and leave the congregation. He ended up finishing his talk and then left. It was CRAZY. Anyway, I just wanted to comment how odd that two family's home burned down at the same time while the owners were at church. God works in mysterious ways.

The Flynn's said...

Wow, that's crazy, sad, neat (about the bricks and all)! I'm so glad no one was inside. It's neat that you have the picture from last year!

Trishelle said...

Mary Ann, I'm so sorry to hear about the damage. It's a relief to hear that no one was hurt.

Heather Bankhead said...

pictures like that always make me feel sick to my stomach.