Wrong Houses Demolished: Not One But Two Homes Razed By Mistake In Texas-Sized Goof

Not one but two of the wrong houses were demolished by the city of Fort Worth, Texas in July. And one of the families was so intimidated by the destruction of their home that they hadn’t come forward until now.

An extensive report in the Star-Telegram details Fort Worth’s truly Texas-sized goof-up. On July 12, a contractor hired by the city tore down the wrong house. They should have demolished the house next door.

Now it has been revealed that on July 11, the same contractor wrongly tore down a second small home. While it was on a site to demolish a house destroyed by fire, the company also tore down a second smaller home on the lot that they weren’t authorized to raze.

Juanita Anchonda told My Fox DFW last week that the family didn’t say anything about the wrongful demolition of their house because they didn’t think it would do any good.

Anchonda said: “I didn’t call anyone…I thought there’s nothing you can do…It seemed like if they did it, they must’ve had authority to do it. So what can you do, if they did it, what can you do?”

When the home was destroyed, their personal possessions including her mother’s clothes and grandmother’s pictures were also destroyed.

The contractor has won bids to demolish 38 of 53 buildings that Fort Worth ordered taken down this year. However, the city has now called a halt to the demolitions — and they have placed a supervisor on administrative leave until they figure out just went wrong.

The small Anchonda home had no code violations and shouldn’t have been touched, the city acknowledged.

Fort Worth is also being sued for demolishing the wrong commercial business in 2011. With not one but at least two wrong houses demolished this summer, the city says they’ll put better safeguards in place to stop it from happening again.

[wrecking ball photo by D and D Photo Sudbury via Shutterstock]