Drew was up early (between 4:30 and 5:00 am), as usual. He shoveled out the previous day’s ashes from the wood stove, putting them in the same bucket he has used for years: a tall, heavy duty plastic bucket. Drew describes the ashes as completely COLD.

Usually, he puts the bucket outside. However, on Friday, November 17th, Drew put the bucket in the garage. (He had recently cleaned and organized the garage so that – for the first time in YEARS – he could fit all three cars into it.)

Drew surmises that, perhaps one of the small pieces of charred wood had a “hot” center. That the hot center “popped” and sent a spark out of the bucket, landing on a stack of newspapers. Personally, I’m waiting for the official word of the State Fire Marshall who was called in to investigate the blaze!

After building a fresh fire in the wood stove, Drew began to work at his desk. Around 5:30, he heard the upstairs smoke alarm go off. When he saw smoke coming from the garage door, he yelled to Annabeth to call 911 and opened the door.

The garage was completely filled with thick smoke, and a relatively small fire could be seen through it. After a brief attempt at dumping water on the blaze, Drew realized that he wouldn’t be able to extinguish it himself.

Meanwhile, Annabeth and her parents (Mary and Wes) were frantically grabbing Annaclarice and the dogs. Annabeth got Annaclarice outside and across the street, ordered her to “Stay!” and went back in to get Shout. Mary had managed to get one dog into a kennel, Wes had managed to get another into a kennel. But, terrified little Ollie jumped from Wes’ arms and disappeared into the smoke before Wes could catch him again.

By this time, the house was already completely filled with thick smoke. Drew literally threw one of the Shelties out of the house (in its kennel), then helped Mary and Wes and the other dog kennel out and across the street.

There was frost on the ground and very strong, icy-cold winds that morning. They were all wearing only pajamas and robes. Everyone but Wes had slippers on. One neighbor quickly noticed Wes’ bare feet and gave him a pair of moccasins. Other neighbors joined in also, bringing coats for everyone.

Mary was the only one who managed to grab purse and glasses! (Purely by habit: she never gets up from bed without putting her glasses on, and never leaves a room without her purse – God Bless Her!) Everyone’s wedding rings were on fingers. Drew had been working, so he was wearing his glasses. But, he also was only in his pajamas, so he didn’t have his wallet.

The campaign van and the Deats’ car were parked in the driveway. Mary had her keys, and Drew had a hidden van key, so those two vehicles were quickly driven to safety.

After that, all they could do was watch their home burn.

Although the Fire Department reportedly arrived within 3 minutes of Annabeth’s 911 call, the house was already “fully-involved” when they first began to pour water on it. It amazes me that a fire supposedly started by a smoldering spark could have spread so fast. I’m not a Firefighter (don’t play one on TV and didn’t stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night), but only 3 minutes to fully-involve an entire house sounds to me as if an “accelerant” was used! Hence, my interest in hearing what the State Fire Marshall has to say about it.

Drew insists that he doesn’t suspect “foul play.” However, everyone – including the media – immediately began thinking about the Fanatic Right-To-Lifers, and how incredibly angry they are about Drew winning the election.

The Papillion Fire Department had to call in two other Fire Departments to help them battle the blaze. Police were directing traffic. (They ended up barricading all roads leading to the house to stop the multitude of “lookie-loos” from driving by!) The Media showed up almost immediately and began clamoring for statements from Drew.

Drew and Family watched as the burned-out car-shells were pulled from their garage (to avoid any explosions). Drew says he couldn’t tell one from another! But, before too long, they simply couldn’t watch any more. They left shortly before a crane began to collapse the structure.

The home’s steel framework remained standing as everything else burned (flames leaping more than 20 feet into the air). Unfortunately, the steel structure had to be collapsed by a crane in order to better “control” the burn.

The Colorado Moss Rock Chimney remained standing in spite of the fire
and deluge of high-force water. However, it also became considered “unstable.”
So, it was pulled down, too.

By 6:00 am, news of the fire “at Barrington Parkway and Schram Road” was already being broadcast on TV. Of course, Mom was awake and watching. I was woke by hearing them scrambling around upstairs, calling out to each other as they frantically tried to call Drew.

When Drew was finally able to use a phone and call the folkz, Dad answered. Dad heard Drew’s voice and immediately hollered, “Are you alright?!” Drew’s response was, “How did you know already?!”

I called both Kim and Steve, waking them each up. They both responded with almost the exact same words, “You’re kidding – right? This is a joke, isn’t it?” Within an hour, Jody had already packed a large suitcase full of clothing for Annaclarice, and winter coats and gloves for everyone. (Obviously, the Texas Millers don’t have need of those things for a while!) And Steve was off and flying.

[Steve flies on a “standby” pass. He has some absolutely amazing stories of the “lucky” things that occurred that day, helping him manage to always get the last seat on each plane he needed to catch!]

Kim and I arrived in Omaha around 11:00 a.m. It was still so cold, that the water had ICED all the trees and bushes that survived the fire.

(I can’t even imagine how cold it must have been when it was still dark,
and all the family dressed only in their pajamas!
Barefooted Wes is lucky not to have been frostbitten!)

Two aerial-bucket trucks were still there, soaking down the rubble from both the East and West sides.

This COUNTER was placed here on December 14th, 2000.