Tourists at Cadillac Ranch react to damage from fire
POTTER COUNTY, Texas (KVII) — Investigators are searching for a person who set an iconic attraction in the Texas Panhandle on fire over the weekend.
Sometime early Sunday morning around 2 a.m., someone ignited one of the cars at Cadillac Ranch. People who stopped along I-40 west of Amarillo in Potter County to visit the site were upset and say it’s deeply disturbing that someone set one of the Cadillacs on fire.
“Thought it would be interesting to get here and one of the cars has been burnt which is unexplainable,” said Tonya Krekel, tourist. “I can’t really understand why someone would do something like that to a place like this.”
“It’s just a terrible thing,” said Chris Krekel, tourist. “I don’t know why someone would do something like that. It’s just a piece of history that people need to keep carrying on not take advantage of it and ruin it.”
Recent storms provided moisture, had it been dry and windy Potter County Commissioner Leon Church tells ABC 7 News the potential for fire danger would have escalated.
“That fire could of spread onto a range fire,” said Church, Potter Co. Commissioner Precinct 3. “There’s a lot of home out there. There’s an RV Park close by and a lot of people around there. Fire is very dangerous. We certainly would like to find who did this.”
There are 10 Cadillacs that range in age from 1943 to 1969 that are buried upside down in the ground on an angle. Each vehicle has hundreds of layers of paint sprayed onto them by visitors. Potter County Sheriff Brian Thomas tells ABC 7 News he believes this is the first time to his knowledge that someone has actually torched one of the Cadillacs.
“As far as I know, yes,” said Brian Thomas, Potter Co. Sheriff. “If somebody knows anything about it they can call the Potter County Sheriff’s Office or Amarillo Crime Stoppers, either one will be just be fine."
The Krekel’s tell ABC 7 News despite someone’s bad intention to damage a piece of Americana, they’ll be back to repaint their names.
“We knew we were going to put our name on it and hopefully years down the road maybe we come back and do it again,” said Tonya Krekel.
Potter Co. Sheriff’s Office number is (806) 379-2900 or Amarillo Crime Stoppers is (806) 374-4400.
