Beverly Street house fire

A Thursday evening house fire destroyed just about everything an Odessa family owned, but the mother, her three children and her nephew escaped unharmed.

Joanne Hicks, 27, said she was cooking in the kitchen with her children at about 7 p.m. when one of them asked “Why is it so smoky in here?”

When they realized there was a fire coming from the back of the 1532 Beverly St. home, they got outside, but had to leave their Miniature Pinscher Snoopy and her two puppies inside.

Assistant Fire Chief Tanner Drake said the main part of the fire was in the back bedroom, and due to the evening wind that picked up at the same time, the fire quickly grew to a level firefighters usually don’t see inside the city.

Flames were “shooting out like 10 or 15 feet into the air,” out of the window, Drake said.

Drake said they were able to get the fire under control within about 15 minutes, but the cause was still under investigation.

Hicks and her family appeared relieved later to discover that Snoopy was OK, although they all had little more than the clothes on their backs, some documents Hicks had in a safe and some partly burned family pictures, including that of Hicks’ fiancé Cornelius Washington, who was the victim of a homicide in February 2008.

Hicks said she had been renting the home for three years.

“They have nothing. They have absolutely nothing,” said Joanne’s mother Judy Hicks, 49. “It’s like somebody dropped them out the sky.”

Although neighbors donated some clothes for her and the kids, Joanne said the Hickses had nothing else and would have to stay with her mother for the near future.

Joanne Hicks said donations could be directed to Arbor Pointe Apartment Homes, number 165.

WANT TO HELP?
The house fire destroyed almost all of the clothes owned by Joanne Hicks and her family. She said she and her children wore the following sizes:
>> Size 9 and 10, teen girls.
>> Size 14 and 16, boys.
>> Size 12, boys.
>> Size 6, boys.
For more information, contact Joanne Hicks: 432-288-3933.