Dateline: January 1, 2004

House fire destroys contents

By Ashlee Kidd, Clarendon Enterprise

Clarendon volunteer firefighters responded to a house fire on the Tolbert farm Sunday night, which left the contents of the house a complete loss.

According to Fire Chief Delbert Robertson, the firefighters got the call at about 7:00 p.m.

“Once we arrived at the house, it probably took less than an hour to extinguish the flames,” he said.

Clarendon Fire Marshall and volunteer firefighter Kelly Hill said that in about twenty minutes firefighters had the blaze under control.

The fire was at a house on the Tolbert farm located just past Martin at County Road 8 and Highway 287.

Robert and Barbara Tolbert were living in the house but were not home at the time of the blaze, according to a family member.

Due to heat and smoke damage, the contents of the house were probably a total loss, but structurally the house is ok, Robertson said. The loss was covered by insurance.

Hill said while there were not a lot of flames being generated by the fire, the heat was intense.

“There was a phone sitting up on a table that had just completely melted from the heat,” he said.

Robertson said the fire started while the family was in town eating dinner.

“We’re pretty sure the fire started when Christmas tree lights were left on a tree that was too dry.”