Lingleville and the surrounding community is gathering to support their neighbors after a local family lost all they own in the span of a half hour.
At approximately 1 a.m. on Jan. 5, Lingleville student Hannah Miller woke up to the sound of crackling and found the side of the house on fire, according to neighbor and Lingleville Volunteer firefighter Cameron Ray.
Fortunately, the teenager was quick to action, running through the house as she woke everyone up to get out.
“She’s the hero,” said Hannah’s father, Travis. “She got us moving and everybody out of the house.”
Since he was next door, Ray was first on the scene, and it didn’t take him long to see what was happening.
“Shortly after getting the page, I looked out the window of my house and saw it was moving,” he said.
Ray estimates that the house was ¾ involved at that time.
“The fire department got there and there wasn’t anything they could really do with the house since it was burning so hot,” said Ray, who added that Lingleville VFD was assisted by Dublin, Erath, Stephenville and Huckabay fire departments.
Firefighters immediately got to work stopping grass fires that were getting close to neighboring houses and got those contained within 20 minutes.
Ray reported that the Miller’s historic home (built in the 1890s) was completely on the ground in 34 minutes after the call for help.
Ray reported that preliminary investigation points to a heat lamp left for outdoor animals as the cause of the fire, but investigation is still ongoing
“It was a tragedy, but the important thing was they all got out alive,” Ray said.
The fire had resulted in a total loss of home and possessions for the Millers though.
“They made it out with the pajamas they had on,” said Lingleville Country Store and Blackjacks Coffee owner, Lance Battenfield in a video that was posted to the Lingleville Community News Facebook page.
The video also reports and shows that the fire demolished all of the Millers’ vehicles.
Battenfield’s stores started accepting donations for the family the next day and a gofundme, linked on the video, has collected thousands towards helping the family start over.
Lingleville ISD and Baptist Church also started taking donations and neighbors flocked to the unused parsonage at Lingleville Baptist Church, which was cleaned and stocked with items for the family so they had some place to stay the next day.
“It’s been awesome seeing the community give so tremendously,” said Battenfield.
Travis Miller agrees with the sentiment.
“I never expected when we were moving from Weatherford that we were moving somewhere so great,” Miller said. “Our community’s love and God has impacted us. We’re thankful for everything the Lord has provided us.”
Although the response has been great, Battenfield stressed that the family can use all of the help they can get as they re-buy everything and try to save for the cost of a new home.
“Let’s come together and be the community that we hope would be there for us,” Battenfield said in the video.
Those wishing to give locally can do so at Blackjack’s Coffee or the Lingleville Country Store.