Carl Taylor’s house burns

About 2 a.m. Monday, June 21, in the height of the high winds and electrical storm, the electricity went off for about an hour to houses along and north of the Cedar/St. Clair County line about six miles east of El Dorado Springs. The cause was apparently a lightning strike that started a fire that totally destroyed the home of Carl and Bonnie Taylor. Fortunately, the Taylors were not at home Sunday night.

Chris said Bonnie most regretted the photos she lost in fire. Chris said his dad lost about two months of paperwork he had on his desk.

Bob Floyd, El Dorado Springs fire chief, said he was called by the El Dorado Springs dispatcher who got a call from someone who said there was a big fire, but didn’t know where it was. Bob said he was on his way to try to locate the fire when he encountered Nathan Taylor, Carl’s older son who lives just down the hill from Carl’s house.

Bob said that when he arrived at the scene, the house was fully involved with no hope of saving anything.

He said that arson is not suspected. The apparent cause is the violent thunderstorm that blew through the area followed by hail.

Nolan Davis of Sac Osage Electric said that Sac Osage crews took a number of trees off lines in the Cedar Springs area and north of Stockton.

He said some of the trouble calls came in as late as 9 a.m. because the homeowners thought somebody else would call it in.