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Saturday, December 27, 1997

Christmas-time fire claims family's house -- again

DALLAS (AP) -- When a blaze destroyed homebuilder Harold Holigan's house the day after Christmas in 1990, he spent four months rebuilding it.

Now, he faces the same painful task again this year as a fire destroyed his 10,000-square-foot home on Christmas Eve.

"It was like coming to a funeral," said Holigan, who saw the charred home for the first time late Thursday after being summoned back from a holiday gathering in Puxico, Mo., with his wife, Hermina, and 17-year-old daughter, Sarah.

"It was a total shock," Holigan said.

No one was home when the four-alarm fire broke out about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. It took 68 firefighters more than an hour to put it out, authorities said.

The fire caused an estimated $1 million in damage -- $700,000 to the house and $300,000 to contents, including furniture. There were no injuries.

Dallas Fire Capt. Don Benda said it could take weeks before investigators know the cause. A friend had been in the house at 6:30 p.m. to feed the Holigans' fish, neighbors said, and nothing seemed out of order.

Holigan said the blaze could have been a result of recent problems with squirrels chewing wiring in his attic. Workers recently repaired the damage, he said.

Holigan's friend and business partner, Ron Bickel, said he broke the bad news to the family before firefighters even left.

"I told him to bring his clothes home because there is nothing left," Bickel said. "And he replied, ÔWell, I guess I have three khaki pants left to my name.' "

A malfunctioning furnace in the attic caused the 1990 blaze, which partially destroyed the 4,000-square-foot house. The Holigan family had just returned from a trip, but managed to escape unharmed.

Holigan said his priority now is to clean up the debris and find a temporary home. Although he plans to rebuild, he said it might be too difficult to risk his luck again at the same place.

"We may end up staying there," he said. "We had 18 really good years there. But I feel really low today about the whole situation. It's something that me and my family will have to sit down and talk about."