Melanie McQuiddy, the manager of a small boutique motel in Canadian, Texas, told CNN she closed down her business and evacuated town as flames approached.
“It looks like Armageddon. All the trees are covered in white ash,” she told CNN over the phone. McQuiddy said she watched the fire burn all night when they were about 10 miles away.
McQuiddy’s daughter, Brooke McQuiddy, said she has friends who got stuck in Canadian after evacuation orders went out.
She said they were told to head over to Canadian High School for shelter.
“They are at the high school football field where multiple residents are together and are literally watching the flames start to take over Canadian,” she said.
“It’s been rapidly, rapidly moving, ” Brooke McQuiddy said right after learning that a friend’s home in the outskirts of Canadian had burned down.
Melanie McQuiddy said her home is also on the outskirts of town, and she prays it’s still standing.
As for the motel — The Last Cowboy’s Court — McQuiddy told CNN it was built in 1948 out of cinderblock with a metal roof. “There’s a chance if (the wildfire) moves fast enough, it will burn around us,” she said.
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