Community reaches out to Gibson Co. house fire victims

GIBSON COUNTY, Tenn. — Fire destroys a family’s house Wednesday morning not long after they left their home.

“They left the home about 7:15. We were called at 20 minutes to 8,” Gibson County Fire Department Chief Bryan Cathey said. “That quick, the fire got going that big. Once it got some air, the wind pushed it through the house. It don’t take long. It don’t take long at all.”

Less than an hour earlier, Mr. and Mrs. Poole, their 11-year-old son, Gary, and their little dog Rascal were waking up to start their day.

Mrs. Poole said she got a call from her landlord as she was headed to work, telling her the house was on fire.

“When I got home, it was in flames and firefighters were all there,” resident Luz Poole said. “And they got it all out, but we lost everything.”

No one wants something like this to happen to them and their family, but Mr. and Mrs. Poole say they’re already overwhelmed by the amount of support they’ve received from their community.

According to the Poole family, before the incident could even sink in, they already were receiving calls from the community offering to help, including staff from their son’s school.

“They called me and they wanted to know if I had a list that my son had for Christmas, and I said yes,” Poole said. “And I took them the Santa letter and everything, and they said they would take care of me.”

And the Pooles say the outpouring of generosity from their community makes them believe that not everything was lost in the fire.

“Without my church people, I wouldn’t be able to get through this, and family and friends also,” Poole said.

If you’d like to help the Poole family, their church is accepting donations. You can give at Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church at 395 Trezevant Highway in Bradford. The church is also setting up a monetary fund for the family.