“God never takes anything away from us but in His Wisdom and economy will give more than has been taken away.” Words spoken to my wife on the day our home burned to the ground, December 14, 1989 Robert Elias Ballard

Our House goes up in Flames

December 14, 1989 was like any typical day in our household. I’m usually an early riser and today was no exception and I had gotten my shower, fixed me a pot of coffee, checked the fire in the wood heater and added wood. It was cold and raining outside but no snow or freezing weather was expected. After completing my breakfast and morning devotion, I kissed my wife and left for work.

My wife had taken a job with the public school system as a cook and she soon left for work, the boys had caught the bus and gone to school. During the mid morning the temperatures had begun to drop and the rain had turned to freezing rain and snow. The county officials decided to transport the student’s home before conditions worsened. My wife completed he duties at school and picked our up our sons and driven home without incident.

Shortly after arriving home there was a break in the weather and the freezing rain and snow had stopped. My wife had worked at a summer camp for boys near our home on Green River road for several years during camping seasons and in the early fall the ownership of the camp had changed hands. She knew the new owners who had previously been associated with the camp and she had made them a special gift of Christmas cookies and candy which she decided to take to them. Before leaving to deliver the goodies she gave instructions to our two oldest that she would be gone only a short while and when she returned she would fix their lunch, soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.

While she was gone our oldest decided to cook some fries. My wife had a pot of cooking oil that she had prepared to make the fries but Jason grew impatient and decided that he would go ahead and cook the fries. In the process he had forgotten to turn the stove off after the fries had cooked and left the pot unattended while sitting in another part of our house watching TV.

He had left the pot of oil on the stove with the eye still set on high. The boiling oil soon spilled over to the stoves eye and caught fire. Soon the kitchen cabinets were ignited because of the intense heat generated by the oil and in a matter of just a few minutes the entire kitchen burst into flames. Hearing the crash of cabinets falling, my son ran to the kitchen to discover our home was fully involved. He immediately called the fire department and soon fire engines from three departments arrived to fight the fire that had begun in the kitchen.

Several members of the fire department worked in the plant where I worked and always wore pagers and were able to monitor the 911 calls that came from the county. They had heard the dispatcher make the sobering announcement of a fire on Green River road and knew from the details of the dispatch that it was my house. They came to my work station and told me.

I immediately went to the time clock and punched out. As I was making my way to my truck through the front parking lot, emergency ambulances passed in front of the plant with their sirens blasting. Already scared, this made me begin to think that there could have been injuries to member of my family and I proceeded as fast as the road conditions would allow to my home.

This is only about a six mile drive but that morning it seemed like a much longer trip. Rounding the curve on Green River road that overlooks the valley I could see my home and the flames that were engulfing the structure. Fire trucks and emergency vehicles were parked all along the road and I had to park a distance and walk on to the burning inferno.

Walking up my driveway I encountered a fireman who told me that my family was next door and all were ok and no one had been injured, I breathed a sigh of relief. I then turned and walked up a little trail connecting ours with the neighbors property and when I reached their backyard my wife ran into my arms crying,” All that we have ever worked for is now gone”! I don’t know where these words came from but my reply in the moment of her stricken terror was,” God never takes anything away from us but in His Wisdom, will give to his children better”.

In the end this is exactly what happened. The Green River community rallied around our sudden loss and with all the help that we received, we were well cared for in the ensuing months. Our insurance covered our loss and we rebuilt on the exact spot. The words that came to mind in the moment of my wife’s outburst were fulfilled and even more than either she or I could have imagined.

The folks within Green RiverTownship and especially in the Zirconia community have always been the kind of folk you are proud to have as friends and neighbors. When one of their own has trouble, they come to the rescue, you can depend on them.