Community rallies after Texas game warden loses home in lightning fire

MARSHALL, Texas (KSLA) — Remnants of Game Warden Scott Robertson’s home in Marshall, Texas, still stand after lightning hit the house, causing a fire Tuesday evening as tornadic storms swept across parts of the Arklatex.

“Family, I can’t replace that; but we can replace stuff,” he said.

A few pictures and furniture are all that is left behind to salvage.

“We’ve been very fortunate. We’ve been here for 10 years and all the tragedy and devastation that happens to other people, we were fortunate to get past that. And I guess this just happened to us,” Robertson said.

Fire Chief Reggie Cooper said their unfortunate event does not happen often and it’s not much you can do to protect yourself. “In my 29 years, I’ve dealt with maybe three lightning strikes that actually caused a structure fire.”

Robertson said during this difficult time, he’s happy to have a community to help them get back on their feet.

“The community, you know, support has been great. They are donating. And I don’t know who they are and can’t thank them enough and people who live out of town. It’s very overwhelming the support that the family and I have received, just the love that we’ve been shown is just amazing.”

Nobody was injured in the fire, Robertson said.

“Kiddo got out of the house, pets were gone. We have our family and what we stay in is a house and you know the family is important,” he said.

“And I do want to take the opportunity to address the community, church and the departmental response that has been just flooding in on us.”

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