Victims of large Kansas fire talk about what they took before they evacuated

Gene Angel was in Minnesota when his stepson called. A raging fire was sweeping across the area, and his home was going to burn. What should he grab?

“It’s pretty hard when someone says, what do you want?” he said. “And you say, I don’t know.”

After thinking it through, Angel told his stepson to grab a couple sentimental items: a 1966 flattop Gibson guitar that he purchased after graduating high school and uses to sing at funerals, and a 1976 electric Gibson from his time in a rock ‘n’ roll band in the late ‘70s. He also asked him to take his diesel truck, dogs and his wife’s Bibles.

Chris Pelton took only his wife’s engagement ring when he evacuated their home.

Quentin Maupin’s wife grabbed pets, cash and birth certificates when she evacuated their home with their children.

Grady Dickerson, who was away at college, said his grandparents took cash and clothes when they evacuated.