Lubbock Couple Loses Vacation Home in Abilene Wildfires
By: Danielle Todesco
Updated: January 25, 2009
The Sanderosa wildfires near Abilene have torn through about 2,600 acres of land, and demolished six homes. One of those belonged to a Lubbock couple who toured the damage just one day after the fire.
"Basically about 110 acres of just ours was just burned over."
Including the home, barn, tractors, and 400 bales of hay. Harmon and Tanya Meixner share the second home with Harmon's brother. They took it over from their parents and grew hay on the land. Harmon says Thursday afternoon, his neighbor in that area called him in Lubbock with the bad news.
"He called and said Harmon your house is gone, but his went too."
And they aren't alone. At least six homes were lost in the wildfires, which mysteriously skipped over some parts and demolished others.
"They said the fire came up and then shifted...wind shifted and then it shifted back again."
Some homes near Harmon's are left completely untouched, including a nearby dairy. While Harmon says his entire property is gone, he expects the fire should have actually benefitted his land. That thought was the silver lining for the couple as they toured the ashes Friday morning.
"My wife and I went out and just walked through it and you have a tendency to just identify different things that ... you say there's that and there's that and there's that."
Now with plans to rebuild, they feel fortunate it wasn't their main home that burned.
"We will probably try to replace it somehow. It's about a 70 year old house. The people who lost where they live is what's really disturbing."
No official cause of the fire has been determined. No injuries have been reported for the West Texas area.
