Locals lose house to Gatlinburg fire

Tuesday, Becton Roddenberry got the call he had been dreading.

For weeks, raging wildfires have engulfed huge swaths of the Smoky Mountains, sending thousands fleeing and decimating the rolling countryside. The damage is causing pain for people in the Big Bend who vacationed and made memories there. 

For Roddenberry, the grief is even more tangible. The National Guard called his father to tell him their cabin in Sevierville, just over the ridge from Gatlinburg, Tennessee, had been reduced to ashes.

Although they have been going there since Roddenberry was a kid, his family purchased the home on Bluff Mountain 12 years ago. Its views of the rolling mountainside have become a place of serenity. The quaint, southern town has become a second home to the Sopchoppy city commissioner.

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“I’ve been going to the Smoky Mountains since I was a child in diapers,” said Roddenberry, who's in his early 30s. “Yesterday was really hard for us. It was such a shock.”

Roddenberry and his mother were in Tallahassee running errands when his father called with the news.

“He said, ‘You might want to pull over’ because Dad knows how meaningful the cabin was to mom and I,” he said. “We had to take our breath for a little bit.”

It was a place where Roddenberry, his mother, father and his sister would spend the time between Christmas and New Year's.

As of Wednesday afternoon, seven people had been killed and dozens suffered burns as the fires swept through Great Smoky Mountains National Park and into small towns along the way, driven by 90 mph winds.

Hundreds of homes and businesses in Gatlinburg, the gateway to the country’s most popular national park, have been reduced to charred rubble as the fire rages.

The Gatlinburg fire started Monday evening, fire officials there said, as embers carried by heavy winds blew in from a fire at nearby Chimney Tops Trail.

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By Wednesday morning, more than 15,000 acres inside the national park and Gatlinburg had gone up in flames.

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Roddenberry remembered the sounds of the Dollywood Express train echoing through the dense foliage. During winter, the snow flurries created a world not seen in the coastal Panhandle of Florida.

“Many mornings through these 12 years we would sit on the porch with a cup of coffee and look at the view,” he said.

It wasn’t until Wednesday morning that Roddenberry, a burn nurse in Wakulla, and his family started to feel better about losing the cabin.

As the fire continues, though, the people of Tennessee and the first responders risking their lives keeping people safe and aiding in evacuations, are in their prayers.

“This morning we’re counting our blessings that we weren’t harmed and we’re safe,” he said. “We’re in deep prayer for all our neighbors and citizens there.”

One of the Roddenberry's favorite places to visit in the area is Cade’s Cove, a valley in Great Smoky Mountains National Park renowned for its wildlife viewing. That area is on fire.

There has already been talk of rebuilding on the charred foundation of their home, Roddenberry said. There is too big of a draw to the culture of the Smoky Mountains.

“We will definitely rebuild. That gives us a lot of hope that we have something to look forward to in the future,’ he said. “This morning we're better and looking forward to the future of rebuilding and building new memories.”

Contact Karl Etters at ketters@tallahassee.com or @KarlEtters on Twitter.