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Apr 17, 2009 10:00 pm US/Central
Stranger Helping Montague County Fire Victim
SUNSET (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
An 83-year-old woman, who lost her Montague County home to wildfires last week, found something Friday that she values more than anything: friends.
Lorraine Owens lived next to the railroad tracks in Sunset for more than 30 years. Last week, winds blew sparks onto her house causing it to catch fire. Lorraine's house was completely destroyed.
Thankfully, Owens wasn't home when the fire started. "I didn't get hurt. Nobody else got hurt. It's [the house] just a thing," she said.
Owens lost nearly everything in the fire, but said she found friends she never knew she had.
Lonnie Lachey lives six miles outside of Sunset. He had never met Lorraine but said when he heard about the fires he got up off the couch and drove over to help.
Lachey arrived at Owens home before firefighters did. He said he wanted to douse the flames but couldn't, because Owens' garden hose had already melted.
Since Lachey couldn't save Owens home he's helping her get another one; through Clayton Homes of Gainesville. Her new home will be a refurbished mobile home, but it's free.
Owens doesn't know what the mobile home looks like and, quite frankly, she doesn't care. "It could be purple with polka dots on it and I'd still take it," she said.
When Lachey was asked why he felt the need to help someone he'd never met he said, "I've been in the penitentiary. I just feel like I'm giving back to my community for anything I might've taken away."
Lachey has been a plumber for the last two years, but is an ex-con whose helping someone else stay on the right track.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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