For Lee, fighting fires have been a part of the last 15 years of his life, but fighting a fire that is destroying his home was a new experience.
Lee said it has always been hard for him to watch families lose their homes to a fire, but watching the last 11 years of his life and his own home burn has been the worst.
“It’s so hard to watch,” Lee said. “We lost everything. I’ve never had to deal with something like this. Now I really know how it feels, and it’s awful.”
It was a normal Monday, according to Lee. He said he and his two boys, Hunter, 16, and Tucker, 12, were home settling down at about 9:45 p.m. when they heard something similar to a gunshot inside the garage. Lee said his youngest son opened the door to see what the noise was.
“When Tucker opened the door, we saw flames. They were coming out of the front part of my Ford Explorer,” Lee said.
Lee said he ran and grabbed two fire extinguishers and used them on the Explorer but as soon as the extinguishers were out, the flames were back.
“I ran to the barn to get the water hose and I started spraying the flames with water. All of a sudden there was a big explosion of flames that bolted out of the back of the Explorer. It was like a huge fireball,” Lee said.
Tucker and Hunter were told to get away from the house, and the two boys took off to a safe distance.
“I panicked. The fire started spreading to the walls so I ran inside, grabbed the kids’ bow and arrows and a few little knick-knacks and took off back outside. The McKey Fire Department arrived about the time I was running outside,” Lee said. “I don’t really remember much after that.”
McKey, Vian, and Sallisaw Fire Departments were called to the scene about 10 p.m. The house was already in flames when they arrived. Lee said there were three vehicles in the garage, which wreaked havoc for the firefighters and caused the fire to be an even larger inferno.
“I believe the firefighters were at the house until 3 a.m.,” Lee said.
Fortunately, one vehicle was spared in the fire. Lee said earlier in the evening he, Tucker and Hunter decided to play basketball, so Hunter moved his truck away from the house so they could play.
“We have his truck for now,” Lee said.
The Lees are staying with family right now. Lee said he is hoping to tear down what’s left of his home, which is just the outer walls, clean it up and rebuild later.
Lee, who said he has homeowner’s and car insurance, isn’t sure what they will do next, but he does have a plan in the works. He said he has a lot of support from family and friends and the Red Cross has provided clothing and food vouchers for them.
“We’ve had several people bring us things. We’re doing pretty good now, I’d say we’re pretty lucky,” Lee said.
