Missouri Family Loses Home Twice in 2006

In a report for the Ozarks Newsstand by Ryan Bowling ("Tragedy visits Nixa family twice in one year," 27 October 2006) homeowner Ed Thompson of Missouri discusses what it's like to have two devastating home tragedies in one year.

In March Thompson's home in the Nixa River Downs subdivision was destroyed by a tornado. Last week it was destroyed a second time by fire due to fault wiring in the attic and compounded by the lack of a nearby fire hydrant.

The Thompson's returned to their home only nine days before the devastating fire and are not looking forward to resuming the insurance battles that have been a part of their lives since the March tornado.

"We're finally getting some of the tornado insurance money," said Thompson. "We'll rebuild there again. My wife had just gotten it the way she wanted it. Now the insurance company is doing a fire investigation. The tornado investigation indicated the wiring in the attic was not up to co de. They're also sending fireplace experts that'll be here Friday, so we're fighting those battles again."

Thompson, a welder who works for U.S. Embassies was recently returned from Kazakhstan and not fully back on local time. He awakened in the night and got up to make a snack and check on sports scores when he heard what he described as a scratching sound in the attic. Upon investigation he saw an orange glow around the attic fan.

"We beat the smoke alarms by about two minutes," he said. "If those had been our warning, we probably wouldn't have been able to grab some clothes to wear."