Residents Assess Damage In Fire-Ravaged Oklahoma City

Residents in fire-ravaged northeast Oklahoma City are finally getting a chance to survey the damage.

Friday, September 2nd 2011, 11:25 pm

By: News 9


Dana Hertneky, News 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Residents in fire-ravaged northeast Oklahoma City are finally getting a chance to survey the damage.

Lost were homes, pictures, memories and countess irreplaceable valuables.

Stop at any home where ashes litter a front yard and you'll find someone with a story.  That's how we found Jim Vana.

Vana has had a rough month.

 Two weeks ago, he took this classic Chevy impala for a rare road trip. And it got hailed on.

Last week he underwent knee reconstruction.

Then Tuesday, fires destroyed his two story garage and everything in it.

"We're going to be easily toward a half a million dollars before all this adds up," said Vana.

That includes his tricked out Cadillac Escalade, with $60,000 in extras, that was featured in Truckin' Magazine.

And a boat he bought from his parents that he couldn't seem to part with.

"There's a lot of memories in that boat," said Vana.

The list goes on and on.

"There was a '63 Rivera outside that wasn't finished yet, but it was fully engulfed in flames, a nice '81 Honda motorcycle that's pretty cheap right now.  That's a '75 Blazer over there.  It's seen better days," he said.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars and years of work, all gone in seconds. Still Jim, like most folks out here, manage to see the good.

"I'm lucky that we have a house standing and we were able to get my dogs and my family out and all," he said. "There's a lot of people that have a lot less."

Although some of that was covered by insurance, Jim says a lot of it he's now finding out wasn't.

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