This online news website is owned and operated by Becky Watts. If you enjoy reading Pike County Times, consider buying an advertisement for your business or sending a donation to support the only free online newspaper in Pike County. Donations can be sent to: The Pike County Times, PO Box 843, Zebulon, Georgia 30295. Click here to donate through PayPal. Thanks for supporting Pike County's only free online newspaper!
By Editor Becky Watts
WILLIAMSON - David and Jodi O’Neal’s home caught fire in the early hours of December 4th. Pike County Fire Department volunteers responded and Spalding County Fire responded as well, but the home was lost. They are staying in a hotel for a few more days while looking for a place in Williamson to rent until insurance finishes the loss process, and they can decide what they are going to do after an electrical fire that destroyed their home.
Jodi and David have been a part of the Fire Department and have responded to help others in emergency situations for twenty years. Their home has also been open to people in need since 1998. It has been a safe haven to others including their grandchildren, but that all changed in the blink of an eye. Everyone got out safe, she said, but our safe haven is gone.
That Fateful Morning
Jodi described the morning of the fire. David went to work and kissed her goodbye as always. Their 8 year old grandson heard a beeping and pointed it out to her. He also thought that he smelled smoke. She thought that it was the freezer beeping, but when she opened the door to the other room, she found sheetrock that was melting from a fire that was jumping out of the attic.
Jodi gathered the grandkids who had grabbed the pets, and she took them to their mother’s original home so they would be safe, and they would not be standing at the house watching as it burned. She also called Pike County 911 Dispatch to let them know about the fire and tell them that it was her own house that was burning.
After returning to the house, she went back inside to retrieve a few things like her laptop, medicine, and shoes. She unlocked the front door so it could be easily accessed with a hose from outside and then pulled out her rocking chair. As she was doing this, the flames continued to spread. And they were spreading fast.
Local volunteer firefighters arrived, but it was less than ten people. She said that it takes fifteen to twenty to fight a structure fire successfully. Spalding County was called to assist because there weren’t enough fire fighters to battle the blaze from Pike County alone. Jodi helped pull hose to her home and backed up fire fighters as much as she could. She relayed messages from the scene to emergency medical services (EMS) responders, and she allowed herself to be checked out by EMS. The pain and tightness in her chest was from smoke in her lungs. She promised to get checked out again by a doctor after everything was over. In the end, the home was a loss due to an electrical fire.
Jodi counted her blessings aloud in this interview. “Our brothers and sisters were there fighting for us,” she said. “Even as I watched the house burn, I was looking around at all of my brothers and sisters from the fire department risking their lives to save my possessions.”
On every fire, Jodi said, the goal is to put out the fire. She said that the look on fire fighters’ faces--when they realized that they weren’t going to be able to put it out--was so heartbreaking. But she also said that even though the winds were fighting against them in the early morning hours, they were “battling like superheroes.”
“I felt like they had my back. They saved the portion [of the house] with the safes, and we were able to get those out,” she said. “Even though we’ve lost everything, they saved my memories. I am so grateful.”
Everyone got out of the house, and that was the most important thing. Jodi said that their two granddaughters had been living with them but returned home last month though a lot of their clothing and other items were still at the house. Their grandsons were living with them and lost their belongings. She said that Christmas was all completed except for the wrapping and all of that was lost too. But we feel blessed, she said. “Home and possessions can be replaced.”
Blessings...
Since Friday morning, the community has stepped in to make sure that the entire family had clothing and that their immediate needs are covered. Jodi said that individuals have “adopted” the grandkids to make sure that they all get Christmas too.
Covering the expenses for relocation is what they need now. They are also having to get food together. “You don’t think about the little things that you have every day until they’re gone,” she said.
Jodi has said more than once through this ordeal that they are used to giving and not receiving and that there must be someone who needs more than we do, but they have also been told by friends and loved ones that you have helped people all of these years and now it is their turn to receive. “It’s been very humbling,” she said.
They are looking to see what can be salvaged from the house and waiting to see how insurance decides to deal with the situation. The American Red Cross has put David and Jodi up in a hotel after the fire where they will be for two more days. After that, she said that they are hoping to go back to Williamson. “We need somewhere close so we can respond to fire calls,” she said.
A GoFundMe account has been set up for the family: Click here to see it. $590 has been raised in the past three days. Those wanting to contribute can drop off gift cards, etc. for David and Jodi at the Pike County Commissioners Office during regular business hours.
Jodi said that Pike County is the best community to live in ever! She said that people are checking on them on Facebook and contributing on the GoFundMe page. She said that since the grandkids have been adopted by various people for Christmas, if there is another needy family that can be helped, please help that family.
Her family is looking to the future. She said that she wants to have a memorial service for their home on the day that it is bulldozed so that her family can have closure. They would like to rebuild there but don’t know what the future will hold in that respect since the insurance assessor hasn’t come down yet. “We are in the center of the storm right now, but when we get that breakthrough we will be so happy to be out of it,” she said. “Pike County has been our life and the fire department is part of us. We want to rebuild or relocate into Pike County.”