Bob Loomis’ House Burns Down in Oklahoma

A fire caused total devastation to Bob and Pam Loomis’ house. After an investigation for the cause of the blaze is complete, the Loomises plan to rebuild. • QHN File Photo

On the evening of June 8, National Reining Horse Association Hall of Famer Bob Loomis was out in his cow pasture with his wife, Pam, when he noticed smoke on the horizon. The couple headed in the direction of the ominous cloud to find their house totally engulfed in fire.

“It burned the house down, and there were five vehicles in the garage when it burned down, so it got [four cars and one truck], the house and two four-wheelers,” Loomis said. “It was a bad fire. Right now, we’re just dealing with the fire marshal and the insurance people. We can’t remove the debris or build the house or anything until the insurance investigation is done. We just have to kind of hang out and wait for that to get done, and go from there.”

An investigation is currently ongoing to determine the source of the fire, which completely destroyed the home.

“You lose 50 years worth of things,” Loomis said. “You can replace furniture, clothes and stuff like that, but you can’t replace the stuff my mother had and Pam’s mother had, family things, and pictures. The more we think, the more we think of things that just aren’t replaceable.”

While the house is a total loss, no people or animals were inside, as the Loomises’ dog, “Tinker,” had ridden with them to go check the cows. Though it will be some time before they are able to rebuild and move back home, they are grateful to have good neighbors to help them through this time.

“Mark and Missy Nowell are some friends of ours there in town,” Loomis said. “They had a house they weren’t using, and they were gracious enough to let us stay there for a while. We have a great neighborhood; there’s a lot of great people. Most of the people in this neighborhood are either horse people or cattle people – we’re in both industries – we just have an awful lot of good friends here.

“Once we get the go ahead, we’ll remove all the debris and build another house, and just keep doing what we’ve always done.”