NEOSHO FALLS — Tracy Tidd and her teen-aged children lost their home and all of their belongings in a Saturday night fire.
The Tidds were not home when the fire erupted at 2144 180th Road in rural Woodson County, about two miles south and 1½ miles west of Neosho Falls.
“The people and the animals are OK,” Tidd said Sunday afternoon, as she and family and friends sorted through the charred ruins. “But we’ve lost everything.”
Tidd and her children, daughter, Reyce, and son, River — they’re 16-year-old twins — were in Iola when the fire was reported, at about 9:30 p.m. Saturday.
Tidd said she and her kids had been out of the house about two hours by then.
“My sister-in-law heard about it on the scanner, that somebody had driven by and seen the flames,” Tidd said. “She called and said, ‘I know there’s a fire on your road. Where are you?’”
The house was fully engulfed by the time firefighters arrived. Volunteer firefighters, EMS crews, sheriff’s deputies and Emergency Management personnel, as well as the Kansas State Fire Marshal’s office were on the scene until about 3 a.m. Sunday.
Once they determined the home was unoccupied, crews engaged the fire in a defensive exterior position, rather than attempting to enter the structure.
Several nearby trees had ignited, as the flames threatened a nearby garage and other outbuildings. Those were doused before the fire could spread.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
“All sorts of things are going through my head about what could have happened,” Tidd said. “I know I didn’t leave anything on. I used a lot of propane last year, so I was concerned about that. I had my tank leak-tested last year, and they said it was OK.”
The house was not insured.
ON TOP OF losing pretty much everything they own — River collected guitars and other musical instruments, while Reyce had a number of childhood heirlooms — the Tidds also lost a lifetime of memories.
The house had been in their family since Tidd’s grandmother was a teen, she said.
Tracy had lived there the past six years, moving in to care for her grandmother before she died about three years ago.
The two-bathroom, three-bedroom home had at one time been a two story structure.
