Gatlinburg Gratitude

A devastating fire in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, on Nov. 28, 2016, claimed 14 lives, injured almost 200 and damaged or destroyed close to 2,500 homes, businesses and other structures. A year later, fire victims look back with gratitude and forward with hope.

Mike and Jean Young stood on the deck of their Gatlinburg home the Sunday after Thanksgiving 2016 and surveyed their incredible view. Their children had just left after a family celebration and they were feeling content. Their spot on the mountain afforded a view of Mt. LeConte from their bedroom window. From the living room, they could admire Clingmans Dome. From other vantage points, they could gaze into downtown Gatlinburg and see the Space Needle. While standing outside, Jean said to Mike, “Look, we’ve got it all.” They had been renovating their home for the past six years. After a lot of hard work and $150,000 in improvements, they were finally done and ready to fully enjoy retirement. “It was our perfect home that we planned to live in the rest of our lives,” Mike said. 

That all changed in a blink of an eye. 

The Youngs had been smelling the smoke of surrounding fires in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for weeks, but when they woke up that Monday, Mike recalls that the view was distorted with a deeper, orangey hue of smoke. It alarmed him enough to call the fire department and ask if they were in danger. “They said, ‘Not unless you see a flame,’” he said.

When they left their home in early afternoon to go to doctor appointments, they had no idea they would never have a chance to return to this home they loved so much. If they had, Jean says she would have loaded up their vehicle with all the treasures they could never replace — thousands of photos of special memories, exquisite one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces her twin sister brought her during travels around the world, memorabilia from Mike’s career as a teacher and football coach, and limited edition art prints they had collected. One in particular was a favorite — a print titled “Basic Training,” which featured an Indian on a cliff teaching a young boy how to shoot with a bow and arrow. 

After the appointments and a pharmacy stop, they met up with friends to go to dinner in Pigeon Forge. As they went through the tunnel, they started to see taillights and then came to a traffic standstill. A tree had fallen and a ranger was detouring drivers to Natty Branch Road, unknowingly sending them into the path of a growing and uncontrolled blaze. Drivers were having to quickly turn around in the middle of a two-lane road. With flames whipping at their bumper, Mike ran to where the ranger was to alert him of the danger. 

“He was the only one who went to tell the ranger there was a fire,” Jean said. “Everyone else was content to sit in their cars.”

With Mike’s help, the traffic was detoured again. They wanted to go back to Gatlinburg, but it became impossible. The whipping winds, flames, and tangled traffic forced them to check into a Sevierville hotel. They didn’t even have dinner, heading instead to Wal-Mart where they bought a few supplies. 

“I praised the Lord because I was wearing my most comfortable shoes and Jean had on her most comfortable shoes,” Mike said. 

They hoped and prayed their home would be safe. “We thought we’d be able to go back the next day,” Mike said. They stayed glued to news reports and the gravity of the situation began to sink in as they listened to reports of lives and houses lost. It wasn’t until Wednesday when a neighbor went back to inspect her property that they learned their house was gone. 

Despite the unimaginable loss and accompanying grief, Mike said, “God has blessed us one time after another.” He said from the moment the fires broke out, people jumped to action to help in any way they could. He said one of his most humbling moments was when someone gave him a coat. “It’s the only time I cried.” 

Mike and Jean both are grateful to be alive. They believe if they had been at home when the blaze intensified they wouldn’t have made it out. “We lost everything, but we can’t replace ourselves,” Mike said. “We’ve been married for 52 years and just so thankful we have each other. We’re still here.”

They mention countless businesses and neighbors — too many to name individually — who came to their aid, but no one stands out more than Dolly Parton. Through her My People Fund, Parton gave each family that lost a house checks totaling $10,000. Mike and Jean were selected to receive their final check personally from the beloved singer. 

“Dolly came in and she smoothed my hair and patted my husband’s cheek. She spent a lot of time talking to us. She’s a gracious, gracious lady,” said Jean. “She cares so much about the people here. She will have diamonds and rubies in her crown in heaven.” 

The Youngs also praise the staff of Mountain Tough, an organization also funded by Parton to provide assistance and support to neighbors who were impacted by the fires. After finding several temporary housing options that lasted through June of this year, Mountain Tough stepped in to help the Youngs find the rental home they are now occupying in Gatlinburg. Their ultimate goal is to rebuild their home.

They look forward to the day when they are in a position to be on the giving side again. “We were always donating and giving to others without expecting anything in return,” said Mike. “We’re now on the receiving end and it’s very humbling. It’s so easy to give. Receiving is hard, but we’re so grateful for the outpouring of love we’ve received.” 

Beginning a New Life 

Alisa Durbin still has nightmares about the fire that consumed her family’s home. She, two of her kids and three dogs tried to get out by car, but a falling tree blocked their route. She put the dogs back in the house thinking they’d be safe there. She almost put Heaven, a therapy horse for her then four-year-old autistic daughter, in the house as well but chose to leave her in the pasture. 

They started walking down the mountain. “All you could see was a bright red sky, she said. “I thought it was the end of the world.”

A neighbor - a Gatlinburg police officer - evacuated them to a community center. Her older son on his way from East Tennessee State University picked them up at the community center and raced back to get the dogs. Alisa can’t quite recall the timeline, but thinks it was about 30 minutes after first being evacuated. 

It was too late. 

“There were flames as tall as trees burning everything,” Alisa said. “By the time we got there everything was gone.”

They weren’t able to survey the damage until the next day. Her new car, bought to take her daughter to a myriad of medical appointments, sat like a toasted Humpty Dumpty in the driveway. “It looked like an egg shell that had been burned,” she said. Her husband tried to occupy their daughter to prevent her from seeing her destroyed swing set and jungle gym as Alisa and her sons raced to the house to see if there was any possibility the dogs survived. They hadn’t. But suddenly they heard a cry from the pasture. Heaven had endured third-degree burns, especially on the mouth, eyes and nose, but she was alive. The pasture looked like a war zone with burned trees all around and burned holes in the ground. 

They rushed Heaven to a vet where she had a miraculous recovery—one of the family’s great blessings. 

That experience also opened the door for a new way to assist others. They’ve created a therapy farm to help children who are suffering PTSD from the fire and also those who have autism. They’ve added two more mini horses, two goats, one pig, two dogs, a cat and 20 chickens. There is no charge for a child to come and receive comfort from the animals. 

Alisa said the walls of her lost home were decorated with sports memorabilia, trophies and news articles about her boys - standout football stars at Gatlinburg-Pittman High School. She laments the loss of those mementos, but it’s for her beloved dogs that she grieves. “We lost everything, but now we’re beginning a new life,” Alisa said. 

She used some of the funds provided by Parton to replace her car and says Mountain Tough helped her husband get a new work truck. After the fires struck, her husband didn’t have transportation and his job was at risk.

With the new truck he took the opportunity to look elsewhere for work, and Alisa says he found a better situation than what he’d had. 

“I’m one of those people who believes God has a plan for everything,” Alisa said.

Through it all, Alisa says her gratitude for Parton, Mountain Tough and the Federal Emergency Management Agency was unbridled.

“The FEMA guy let me sob on his shoulder, and my case worker at Mountain Tough talks to me like a friend,” she said. “I can’t thank them enough.”