A fire of unknown origin Sunday morning destroyed a distinctive, decades old Aframe home that sat on the side of a heavily forested hill overlooking Lake Eufaula and the SH 9 bridge.
The copper-roofed house on the north side of the highway three miles east of Eufaula was a familiar sight to motorists driving west on the highway leaving Longtown and to visitors on the nearby lake.
The unusual home, with a detached game room adjacent to the main house, had been vacant for some time, noted Eufaula Fire Chief Cliff Shatswell.
He said he believes the uninsured structure is owned by Joe Street.
“He didn’t live there. No one has been there for a long time. Vagrants have been stealing everything out of there. Lots of police reports have been filed,” Shatswell said.
The cause of the fire is unknown, he said.
“We don’t have a clue,” Shatswell said.
A call came in about the fire at 2:30 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 19.
“By the time we got there it was fully involved. The only thing we could do was go into a defensive mode. We cooled down the propane tank on the property, which was extremely hot,” he said.
Three trucks and six firefighters and several sheriff ’s deputies responded to the alarm.
Fighting the fire was problematic because of the isolated location and difficulty getting to it. Even though it sits near the lake, it was difficult getting water to the fire.
“There was no readily available water source,” he said.
A large metal gate slowed down the fire fighting crews.
“We had to go through the gate, then we had to walk through the woods,” he said. “There is only one way in and one way out. It was a tight, small area.”
The house and garage were destroyed. The game room was saved.
Firefighters contained grass fires that were cropping up hours after the fire.
The house once was owned by the late Mickey Medley, former wife of entertainer Conway Twitty. Mickey Medley died in 2021 in Hendersonville, Tennessee.
Chelsie McClelland, who says she grew up in the house, posted the following message on Facebook: “Before I get bombarded with messages I wanted to just state here … yes!! I watched my childhood home/Conway Twitty’s ex-wife’s house/copper top/frame burn to the ground early this morning. No we don’t know what the cause was and nobody was there that we were aware of!!!! The game room still stands and they contained the fire the best they could to just the house and the garage. I want to personally thank the Eufaula fire department and McIntosh county sheriffs who came and assisted. We are so grateful for all your hard work and dedication to your community.”
