LINCOLN COUNTY, Mo. — A Lincoln County family lost everything Wednesday night after their house burned to the ground.
The fire happened in a subdivision a few miles south of Troy, Missouri.
Inside their playroom on Wednesday at about 6 p.m. on Hickory Knoll Drive, Jake Micks was playing with his two little girls, ages 1 and 3. That's when his neighbor knocked on his door saying his garage was on fire.
So, he picked up his girls, had his wallet in his pocket and ran out the door with nothing else.
After that, "I just really got out," Jake Micks said. "I got out. That's pretty much it.
"You kind of just go into shock in a way and don't really think about too much."
The two girls didn't even have shoes on as they ran out the door.
About 10 minutes later, the Lincoln County Fire Protection District drove up to a home engulfed in flames. A family car had its lights on and the horn was blaring in the burning garage, according to firefighters.
A propane tank had apparently gone up in flames, taking the rest of the house with it.
The next morning, it was a scene of burnt walls, a crumbled garage door and the propane tank that was initially engulfed in flames.
Jake and Tylyn Micks grew up together in O'Fallon, Missouri, and got married in 2019. Back in 2020 when they moved in, they didn't know there weren't any fire hydrants in their rural neighborhood. They eventually found out the closest one was 4 to 5 miles away.
Fire crews said it took more than 27,000 gallons of water to put the fire out. Everything burned inside. Tylyn even borrowed clothes and leaned on support from family, friends and her neighbors who stayed outside with them all night.
"I wasn't here when the fire happened so (Jake) called me and I was on my way home from work," Tylyn Micks said. "I was close. I pulled in and somebody had my girls. I don't even know who she was but she was holding both my babies."
Lincoln County Fire Protection District Assistant Chief Robert Shramek was one of the department members who responded.
"I live about seven miles from here, and since I got on the main highway, I could actually see the smoke," he said. "We knew immediately we had a working fire. We knew that it was a very rural area. So immediately we started asking for extra tankers to show up."
The family said they lost possessions like baby books that they'll never be able to get back.
"I was just happy to wake up and have my husband and both my girls," Tylyn Micks said.
"It's a lot," Jake Micks added. "But we were playing with our girls this morning. What can you do, you know?"
When it comes to how their daughters are doing, "They're both fine," Tylyn Micks said. "They don't even know what happened."
The flames raging Wednesday night were so large that they melted the siding off the house next door. Fire crews saying it could have been much worse.
A GoFundMe page has been started on behalf of the Micks to help try and replace the items they've lost as they continue to work with insurance in the coming days.