Posted on 09/08/2001 9:39:22 PM PDT by kattracks
ROLLA, Mo. (AP) - Sen. Jean Carnahan's house caught fire Saturday night after an apparent lightning strike while she was inside, but no one was injured, authorities said.
The fire broke out at about 9 p.m. on Saturday at the Democratic senator's home just southwest of Rolla, the Phelps County Sheriff's Department and the Missouri Highway Patrol said.
Three fire departments were helping douse the blaze, officials said.
A sheriff's dispatcher said initial reports indicate that a lightning strike triggered the blaze. It's not known who else was inside the house.
The patrol said the extent of the damage was not immediately known.
Calls late Saturday to the rural Rolla fire department went unanswered. Messages were also left with the senator's spokesman, Tony Wyche.
Carnahan was elected to the Senate last November, just three weeks after her husband, Gov. Mel Carnahan, died in a plane crash along with the couple's eldest son, and a close aide to the governor.
The Democratic governor's name remained on the ballot because a deadline for changes had passed, and Jean Carnahan agreed to replace him if he outpolled the incumbent, Republican Sen. John Ashcroft.
Carnahan won, 50 percent to 48 percent. Jean Carnahan became senator, and Ashcroft became U.S. Attorney General months later.
Someone trying to tell her something?
It won't take long. Insurance fraud is much easier to arrange than vote fraud, as fewer people are involved.
I live next door in Jim Talents old district. I was watching the report about the Carnahan fire and thinking how that was poetic justice ... and just then the storm came through here. Some of the worst lightning Ive seen in years. Just as I had this big smirk over her misfortune, we had a near miss. Guess God was trying to tell me something!
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