LEE COUNTY, GA (WALB) -
Firefighters in Tennessee are still putting out hotspots, Tuesday night, at a mountainside rental cabin complex near Pigeon Forge.
The fire that started Sunday afternoon destroyed 59 cabins and damaged several others.
The owner of one of those homes lives in our area.
Terese Thomas recalls the moment she got the call that her three story cabin went up in flames along with dozens of others.
"About 2 hours later we got another call that said it's on your street and it's not looking good and then about 2 hours later we got another call that said it appears it has taken your house," said Thomas.
Thomas shared these pictures with us Tuesday afternoon showing the destruction of the fire.
"This one is my house right here. It caught these houses on fire and blew the smoke across and burned all of these," said Thomas.
When she didn't use her cabin as a vacation home, Thomas would rent it out to others.
A family was in the cabin a night before the fire broke out.
"The renter that was in there actually called and said my son left his suit case and a bag of dirty clothes in the bedroom, would you mind shipping to me? That's when it first hit me and I said ma'am that cabin burned down last night," said Thomas.
Thomas didn't lose a lot of material possessions in the fire, it's the sentimental things she'll miss the most.
"We've watched our grandson take his first steps there, our little grandson had his first vacation there, we've had weddings there, we've had receptions there and parties, so it's important to us," said Thomas.
Now, she's grateful that no one was hurt in the fire that affected 65 cabins.
"Nobody was injured. It was just by the grace of God. I know he has a plan for everything, we don't always know what it is but he spared life," said Thomas.
Thomas says it going to be another three weeks before owners can go back on that property due to the fear of a landside because the ground under that mountaintop was damaged.
Investigators say a small brush fire started the Sunday wildfire that spread to all those cabins.
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Terese Thomas
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