Homeowner Arrives to Find House Destroyed by Fire

Homeowner Arrives to Find House Destroyed by Fire


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Amanda Butterfield ReportingFlames ripped through a house in Taylorsville, as high as 60 feet in the air. Now the homeowner is trying to salvage what she can from her life.

Homeowner Arrives to Find House Destroyed by Fire

Not much is left, but some things were saved.

"Just Polaroids, dirty. We'll save what we can."

Pictures and a car.

"This is a1979 2-80-Z."

That's all Joyce Runnells can pull from the rubble. The inspirational book she was working on, and all of her work building a non-profit organization to helped depressed people: gone.

Homeowner Arrives to Find House Destroyed by Fire

Joyce Brown Runnells: "Oh my just so sick with his, I dont know."

The good news is her friend, who was in the basement when the blaze erupted, is safe.

"She barely got out with nightgown; lost car, everything. Everything is gone, but we have us."

The fire started early this morning. Flames shot 50 to 60 feet high. A neighbor called 9-1-1.

Homeowner Arrives to Find House Destroyed by Fire

Kurt Baker, Witness: "We heard like explosions, shooting out the end of the house."

The home was so bad, crews had to knock it down.

Joyce wasn't here to see any of this. She lives part time in Nevada and drove the five hours here when she heard the news. Now she's trying to salvage more then just pictures out of this.

"I know problems bring blessings. This is just more blessings than I was expecting. It's so hard to see everything gone."

Investigators don't yet know the cause, but they say it likely started near the garage."

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