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The ADVANCE, November 8, 2023/Page 2A
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and check outside his bed
room. “He is a hard sleeper/’
Heather remarked. “He has
said it several times - he
says, ‘I know Jesus made
me get up.’ He was in that
area where you’re asleep
but not in a deep sleep yet.
Typically when he goes in
his room, he’s done for the
night, and we have older
kids that kind of come and
go, so it’s nothing for foot
steps to be outside his room
in the kitchen because ev
eryone goes through there.
He said he just felt some
thing made him get out of
bed and open up that door,
thank goodness.”
The fire was raging,
but was mostly located in
the area outside near the
home’s front porch. “When
he was yelling that the
house was on fire and that
we needed to get up and
get out, it was going pretty
good at that time,” Brian ex
plained. Upon getting out
of the house, Brian worked
to keep the fire contained
by dowsing it with a water
hose, as several fire depart
ments arrived.
“I’m not sure what all
departments there were -
there were so, so many it
seemed like. I know it was
probably [departments
from] New Branch, some
guys from Lyons, and some
of the guys from the prison.
I did read the fire report and
that’s what they were saying
- that we were able to put it
out the first time,” he added.
Brian continued,
“Those guys - the firemen
- really did a great job in
my opinion. I mean, they
were checking the walls;
they had devices they used
to check to see that there
was no more heat. They
stayed a couple hours - un
til around 3 a.m. - checking
everything, tearing down
the deck, and making sure
everything was dowsed
down. They put big fans in
there because some smoke
had gotten in the house, so
they put ventilation fans
in all the doorways and
windows to suck out the
smoke.”
Because of the smoke
within the home, the family
decided to stay the remain
der of the night at the Stan
ley Lodge, which is located
next to their home on Bud
Clifton Road, and assess
the home’s damage in the
morning. As the night con
tinued on, Brian struggled
to sleep. “I kept coming out
side, and I would look back
at the house, and I could
still see the outside lights
and all. Everything seemed
fine,” he recalled. “Then, I
guess it was at 6 a.m., I had
finally kind of dozed off a
but its completely differ
ent when you’re in these
shoes. It’s something that
is so important to us, and
that as a family, we want to
pay things forward and con
tinue to do for other people
before things even happen.
Don’t wait for it to happen
because it’s right around the
comer for somebody else.”
“It’s people that we
know and it’s people that
we don’t know [that are giv
ing and helping us],” Brian
elaborated. “We’ve been in
this community forever—
Heather and the Ropers,
and me and the Stanleys.
So, people know that we are
going to be okay because
we both have big, support
ive families and they’re
going to look after us, but
they continued to keep giv
ing to us even though they
knew that we would be
okay eventually. Now don’t
get me wrong, it’s bad, and
we don’t know where we’re
going to go next, but luck
ily and thankfully for us,
her parents were here and
my parents were here. Our
church, our preacher - peo
ple were here and they care
about us, and that’s what re
ally gets me more emotion
al than what I’ve lost is what
people are doing for us.”
The family shared their
gratitude for the American
Red Cross and the United
Way of Toombs, Montgom
ery, and Wheeler Counties,
as they said that these agen
cies reached out immediate
ly to the couple to seek ways
which they could help. “It’s
good for us to see first hand
that they do that. You see it
on TVj but its different see
ing it in person. It makes a
hope that when people hear
about it, that they choose
to support those groups
because they were there,”
Brian remarked.
The couple said this
tragedy has also reminded
them of the importance of
empathy for others. “So, for
our family and children, I
want us to have more em
pathy for what’s going on in
this world now because its
easy to walk by your TV and
see floods, fires, and people
crying, and you just see it all
the time,” Brian continued.
“Those people have feelings
and as a community and as
people, we need to make
sure we care about every
body and just try to help
them if we can. There are
plenty of people who don’t
know how to help - I’ve
had hundreds tell me to let
them know what they can
do - and it does feel good
for them to at least reach
out and you know that they
are there. But there’s people
who don’t have people;
there’s people that don’t
have support groups - and
that’s where we have got to
try to help. That’s what I’m
challenging my kids right
now while its still so fresh
on all of our minds on how
we are feeling right now -
think of those people that
don’t have somewhere to go
or someone to help.”
“It’s still bad,” Brian
clarified. “My daughter re
cently said, ‘It’s not that we
lost what we got for Christ
mas last year - it’s that we
lost that room where we
opened presents together
and made all the memo-
ries.
The family currently is
scattered, as they stay with
several relatives, but hope
to meet soon to develop a
plan for the future. Until
then, they will continue to
share their message of hope
and gratitude with the com
munity. “We want some
thing good to come out of
this, and if its our commu
nity and all these people
that have supported these
causes, or people that don’t
and read this and think that
maybe they should support
these things before some
thing happens - that is
good,” Heather concluded.
Photo by Makaylee Randolph
STILL BURNING - The fire has continued to smolder over the past week, and Brian Stan
ley said that flames were even still visible on Sunday, November 5,
bit, and Heather started
screaming, “The house is
on fire!”’
Heather’s cell phone
had received an alert from
the family’s home security
footage; when she checked
the camera’s live stream,
she could see the flames
overtaking the home. “You
could see it licking from the
inside of the window. So, it
had gone inside the house
at that time,” Brian said.
The couple left Stone
sleeping at the lodge and
rushed over to home to at
tempt to contain the fire.
“I tried using the same wa
ter hose [as I used before],
but the water couldn’t really
reach the fire because it was
inside,” Brian remarked.
“Heather was talking to
911, and they said they
were coming, but it was just
moving too fast that time.”
When asked how she
felt discovering the fire
through the camera foot
age, Heather commented,
“It was horrible because I
knew. The windows were
blowing up, and I knew. It
hit that back window that
overlooked the lake, and
I mean it went straight to
the roof. I knew at that
point, that was it. They
couldn’t have gotten here
fast enough - there’s no
way. They did everything
they could - I felt so bad
for them. Those firemen
worked so hard. They had
even been punching holes
and walls in our ceilings to
check for burning embers
[after the first fire]. They
said, ‘We hate to do this,
but we’ve got to check.’
They tested everything and
did everything they should
have.”
The couple said the
returning firemen were
emotional as they discov
ered the home engulfed in
flames. Both the house and
the family’s vehicles were
total losses, but no one was
injured - not even the fam
ily dog. The cause of the
fire has not yet been deter
mined.
VI DALI A
PARADE
PARADE OF GINGERBREAD HOUSES
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2
11 AM
Photo by Makaylee Randolph
HOPE IN DEVASTATION - The Stanley family hopes to
spread a message of gratitude, generosity, and em
pathy to others, as they received tremendous love and
support after their home and vehicles were lost in a fire
on Monday, October 30. L to R: Brian Stanley, Heather
Roper Stanley, Stone Smith.
APPS DUE NOVEMBER 17
FOUND ON
DQWNTQWNVIDAL1A.ORG
Brian and Heather said
that they do not blame the
firemen at all for the second
fire, and truly believe the
men had done everything
they could to prevent the
disaster. ““We just came
up here two days ago and
it was still smoking and fire
- so, this stuff is hard to put
out,” Brian stressed.
Yet, even in the midst
of destruction, the Stanley
family has found hope with
in the community, and have
even shifted their priorities
to the things which they be
lieve truly matter. “We want
to refocus on some impor
tant things. Your faith, your
family, your friends - that’s
what matters. We got to not
forget how we were feeling
this time last week,” Brian
explained.
“We have a very lov
ing and generous commu
nity - they have wrapped
their arms around us It’s
very humbling,” Heather
expressed tearfully. “They
have loved us and support
ed us in a lot of ways. We’ve
done things [to support
others], and we thought
maybe we understood,
ZVidaliA
FEDERAL SAVINGS BANK
Julia McKenzie
Jmckenzie@vidfed.com
0:912-537-8805 ext. 137
300 Jackson Street, Vidalia, GA 30474