Fire Destroys Home Of Volunteer Firefighter

A Liberty volunteer firefighter says he's heartbroken after a fire destroyed his family's home and nearly everything they own. 

Robert Campbell says he escaped just in time when the smoke turned to flames.

"I had burned trash earlier that morning, left to go to town, came back everything was fine,” said Campbell. “About an hour after I got back, I started smelling smoke."

Campbell says he noticed fire coming from the back of his home. Within minutes, he says the house burned to the ground.

"I have two little girls, so I mean this was their bedroom. And it started on the other corner, so when you go through that, I'm just glad they weren't here,” he stated.

Almost everything they had burned with the house, including all the presents he bought his three and four-year-old daughters for Christmas.

"I mean, I'm broken,” said Campbell. “It's not so much me, it's my kids. I mean, it's replacing the things that they lost. I'll get along, I'll make it just fine, but it's them."

It will be a long road ahead for the family, but Campbell says people are already rallying around them offering help.

"With the community of Liberty, Beggs, Mounds, I mean everybody's kind of throwing in to do what they can,” he said.

With no place to call home for the moment, the family is trying to focus on the positive.

“If it wasn't for Mounds Fire, you wouldn't even see this,” said Campbell. “It would be completely gone."

Campbell says embers from a burn barrel may have caused the fire. For now, the family is staying with relatives. 

If you would like to help, contact Liberty Fire Chief Lee Johnson at 918-366-8330 or 918-549-8518 or Campbell's mother, Lynda Barclay, at 918-697-9338.