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A lightning strike last week started the fire that destroyed the home of Terrie Leyden in Coosawattee River Resort, according to a fire insurance investigator.
Terrie Leyden had just sat down to take a break from getting ready for the next uptempo day at her restaurant, Cornerstone Cafe.
“I had stayed in town because we had been so busy,” she said of the summer season that includes breakfast and lunch fare. “I had to make two batches of biscuits. I put one batch of biscuits in, ran to my vegetable marketplace, then put some more biscuits in. I walked down to Boardwalk Pizza to have a glass of wine.”
She then received an unnerving phone call from a nearby antique store owner who asked about her dog — specifically, if she had the miniature Aussie with her. When she replied the 16-month-old pup was at her home in Coosawattee River Resort, he told her she needed to get there — urgently.
Just before Leyden (pronounced LIE-dun) arrived, her granddaughter, Sammie Jo, called to tell her the cabin was on fire. A neighbor later told Leyden she heard a loud crack and then instantaneously, an explosion.
(“The neighbor) looked out her window and couldn’t see anything because (the woods) are pretty thick,” Leyden said. “She walked out her front door and saw cars stopped in the road in front of my house, and she ran down there and said my house was completely engulfed in flames.
“When I got there, I was just like ‘Oh, my God. Oh, my God.’”
Two days later when Leyden talked to the antique shop owner again, she said he told her, “There was no way I could tell you your house was burning down over the phone.”
Leyden was told an initial social media post said she and her granddaughter escaped the fire.
“No, thank God, we weren’t even there,” she corrected. “My dog, Charlie, was the only one in the house. He didn’t make it. I’m glad my granddaughter (who just turned 15) decided not to go home right away either.”
A fire inspector with her insurance company said lightning struck the cabin in the family room, went back out and then came in again.
“I tell you what, (the damage) was like nobody ever lived there — there was no furniture, and my stainless steel side-by-side refrigerator and freezer was melted,” Leyden shared.
Gilmer County Fire Chief Daniel Kauffman said radar showed electrical storms in the area that day, and neighbors confirmed “a very large lightning strike” shook homes in the Beaver Forest neighborhood.
“Nobody was at home, and that’s sometimes how fires get a head start on you,” he said. “By the time a neighbor sees it, it’s very advanced. (The fire) was almost top to bottom involved by the time we got there, probably 70-80 percent involved, from the first on-scene report.”
He said the fire was 7.7 miles from Fire Station No. 1, or around 16 minutes considering the curvy, hilly roads inside Coosawattee that have to be navigated by large fire trucks.
“Our first new engine company was tied up on a call at the time. (Law enforcement officers) went to serve a warrant on a guy who poured gas on himself and threatened to light his place on fire, so they were actually standing by there,” he added.
Kauffman called the cabin “a total loss.”
“There were very few contents left to speak of … a good portion of the interior was consumed,” he explained.
Kauffman was asked if the fire tried to spread to nearby houses.
“There was an adjacent home to the backside of there,” he said. “The first line off of the first engine went down there, because the house was starting to smoke from the heat. We really weren’t going to make too much difference at that point to the main structure fire.”
‘Overwhelmed’ by response
What’s ahead now for Leyden?
“A friend called who has a rental cabin, and she told me I could stay in it as long as I needed until the insurance stuff was taken care of, and it’s completely furnished,” she said. “I’m just overwhelmed by the generosity of the people in this town, and the love they’ve shown me — not just over this, but over the years.”
Is she getting over the initial shock?
“I believe I’m getting better every day,” Leyden said two days after the devastating fire. “(The day after) I was shaky all day. If someone came beside me or up behind me, I jumped two miles. Today (Thursday), I’ve been a bit more mindful and can cope with stuff a little bit more.”
When asked if there is anything the community can do now, Leyden responded that she and Sammie Jo’s needs are being met.
“I’ve had so many clothes brought in (and donated), and I don’t even know what’s in all the bags yet — I haven’t had a chance to look. My granddaughter went through a couple of bags that were brought into the restaurant, and she sorted them by things Grandma would wear and things she would wear,” she said with a laugh.
Smoke detectors, escape plan could save lives
Gilmer County Fire Chief Daniel Kauffman recommends homeowners, renters and mobile home residents have smoke detectors inside bedrooms and hallways where they live, and that parents practice safe-escape plans with their children in the event of a fire.
The National Fire Protection Association offers fire safety tips, including how to make an escape place at their website, nfpa.org/publiceducation.