By Ashley Ball
News 3 On Your Side
Friday night news three told you about a fire that destroyed a house off Highway 431 near Seal, Alabama. News 3 On Your Side
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Stumble It!It started when lightening struck the home during yesterday's storms. Firefighters tell News Three the home is a total loss.
Relatives told us the family had just left for vacation.
Ronnie and Mardell McArdle didn't expect to be home so soon but they did expect a house to come back to.
Ronnie McArdles says he is still coming to terms with the situation “I still don't believe it and I'm looking at it.”
The McArdles left for a weekend at the beach just two hours before the lightening struck.
Neighbors called the couple as emergency crews began to arrive.
The McArdles said when they got the call, neighbors told them not to rush. Their house was already gone. Saturday afternoon, the fire was still burning. Ronnie says the fire is in the walls and firefighters have been struggling to put it out.
The McArdles said they came back this morning hoping to salvage what they could from their home, but the only thing they could find was a family bible.
The McArdles told News Three, “You just never prepared for this.”
Right now all they have is their faith and each other.
One car is still parked in the garage, and the only thing that remotely resembles their house is the front porch.
They built the house in 1985, and more than twenty years later their not sure how to start over.
The McArdles say insurance adjusters have surveyed the damage but the family is asking the community for help.
The McArdles have set up a special account with CB & T of East Alabama. You can make donations at either the CB&T off 13th street or the location off Highway 431.
