Fire Destroys Mike Draege Home West of Du Quoin
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Mike Draege and half-brother Tom Alvis stood and watched as nine years of their lives collapsed in a fiery, wind-driven inferno in front of them Wednesday morning.
Mike was on his way to Lowe's in Carbondale to pick up materials to finish a back upstairs room, stopped halfway by a text message on his cell phone at DeSoto that said his house was on fire.
By the time his truck sped up the drive to his house on Sacred Heart Cemetery Road five miles west of Du Quoin high winds gusting to 30 mph were feeding the deep orange flames that were consuming his 5,000 sq. ft. home.
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