The aftermath of the house fire on Garden Grove Drive Wednesday night still smoldered 12 hours after the flames were put out.
The homeowner, Norman Touchstone, said, “I lost everything I ever had. I have nothing left.” For Touchstone, it wasn’t just a house that he lost, it was a home that held his cherished memories.
“Dad and I put it together in ’58 and ’59. I moved in it in 1960,” he said.
The large fire was something Touchstone feared but hoped would never happen.
He said, “This house was made out of heart pine. And once it’s been, it’s so old that heart pine, once it lights off, you can’t hardly put it out.” He said the fire started after his wife lit candles in a room at the front of the house.
“And she came back there to talk with me,” said Touchstone. “And then she’s seen the flames flickering on the trees. And by the time she got out there and I was able to get out there, it was too late.”