The Insurance Record - October 4, 2012

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Second in a Series —

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By Mark Hanna

Gary Sweeny still gets choked up when thinking of all of his family and friends who helped him recover from the Bastrop wildfire that destroyed his home of 35 years. The retired school teacher and his wife who still teaches have already rebuilt and moved into their new home.

the Sweenys had better move quickly.

On Labor Day weekend one year ago,
the Sweenys’ neighbors said they were
getting out of here. Knowing that his
neighbor’s home was up for sale, Gary
figured the neighbors had sold their
home and were moving. But he soon re-
alized that a fast moving forest fire was
the cause of his neighbor’s departure.
Living at the end of a private dirt road
with one way in and one way out meant
Gary and Gina grabbed their dog and
a few pillows and took off in separate
vehicles toward Smithville where Gina
taught school. They could see and
smell smoke, but they had no idea
how close the fire actually was to their
home. During the next 24 hours, the
Sweenys watched for newscasts that
would explain what neighborhoods
had been destroyed, but it was still too
early to get accurate information on
what was burning.

cleaned out his freezer thinking they’ll be back again soon. He returned to his wife in Smithville and heard the news that the fire had grown larger and was now moving closer toward their home. For the next few days the Sweenys along with hundreds of other families had to wait for the fires to die down before they could find out if their homes had been spared. Almost a week after the costliest wildfire in Texas history began, the Sweeneys saw video of their neighborhood and continued on page 3