Owner leads championship horse out of blazing inferno; toy and gun collections part of uninsured loss at Heape home

Amanda Heape was a seven-time junior Quarter Horse champion growing up, knows the industry like the back of her hand and was getting ready to load up her championship horses for a large weekend show in Tunica, Miss.

A devastating fire Wednesday in a barn and connecting upstairs apartment where her young brother-- Seth-- lived, took the lives of two of the family's three Quarter Horses.

The fire and the entire loss--estimated at a quarter-million dollars--was uninsured. Beyond the loss of the two beloved horses, Grayson, 13, and Juliet, 3, the fire consumed a $40,000 toy collection that included peddle cars and vintage collectables and a large gun collection.

Two tractors in a next door lean-to, were saved.

Amanda and her mom and dad--Doug and Judy Heape--all live on the same property. Amanda has four children. Judy was headed for the barn shortly after 10 a.m. Wednesday to feed the animals when she sensed something was wrong. At the outset, she saw only a smoky haze through the barn door.

"Then something exploded in the apartment upstairs and the fire blew out the side wall of the apartment and caught the hay in the barn on fire," said Amanda.

Fire was everywhere. Amanda ran through the fire to the stall where her show horse--Turbo--stood. She led the trusting horse past the inferno that burned at her backside and got him out. By then, the entire barn was engulfed in flames and there was no way to make a second entry to free the horses Grayson and Juliet. Her father had started a tractor and was trying to use it like a battering ram to bust through the east side wall of the barn. But, the full-cut, two-inch timbers that framed the barn and the stalls along the east wall didn't budge against the force of the tractor. The two horses were overcome by smoke.

Tamaroa and Sesser firefighters spent six hours at the scene along the Sesser Blacktop (Rt. 154) near the Hitt Road turnoff.

"We could hear mom yelling, so we ran out of the house and she's yelling down the driveway that the barn is on fire," said Amanda.

Brother Seth was not in the apartment at the time. "We were all down there," she said, pointing to their mobile home. She used her hands to describe the layout.

"The bathroom was downstairs and then he had a big living room and big bedroom," said Amanda.

The Tamaroa Fire Protection District was the first on the scene. A mutual aid call to the Sesser Fire Department went out even before Tamaroa firemen arrived. With no major source of water nearby, between eight and ten tankers of water were hauled to the scene.

The family did not have insurance and estimates the loss to be at least $250,000. Seth lost everything. There were a few things found in a cedar chest

The family could use clothes for a male, pant size 42/32, shoe size 13 1/2 and shirt size 2X. They also need winter blankets. Amanda said all of her Quarter Horse gear (tack) was destroyed and the family could use some hay and horse feed to get through the winter. "We have another farm and there is some hay up there," said Amanda's father. In the face of such a huge loss, her father said, "You just go on."

To make donations, please call Judy Heape at (618) 790-3104.