Tattnall Co. home engulfed in flames, family loses everything on Thanksgiving

TATTNALL COUNTY, Ga. (WTOC) -What began as just a brush fire forever changed one Tattnall family’s Thanksgiving forever.

Kourtney Mcdilda and Jamie Jackson just left their house to join their family for Thanksgiving dinner.

As everyone gathered around the table, Kourtney got a phone call she never expected.

“My dad called me on the phone because one of his buddies called him and told us that our yard was on fire and that it was catching our house on fire,” Kourtney Mcdilda.

This was Jamie Jackson’s first ever home, and he built it up from the ground-up.

“Fire caught it. It don’t care who you are, what you got, poor or rich, it does not matter. It would tear it down,” said Jackson.

The family told WTOC it only took minutes for the fire to move from the brush to engulf their home.

Overfilled with emotions, Kourtney said they lost just about everything.

“Every memory that we have with our daughter, her first steps, her first coming home,” said Jackson.

She told WTOC, not to sound cliche, but the only few things that survived were her bible and her wedding band.

Kourtney’s father and brother are both firefighters for Tattnall County. Austin Mcdilda was one of the first on the scene.

“Just knowing it’s your sister’s house and the shape that it was in when our fire truck got here, I just knew that it was pretty much going to be all gone,” said Austin.

“I can tell you, I’ve been fighting fire for 31 years, it just feels different when it’s your kid,” said Kourtney’s father, Battalion Chief Buck.

Both Austin and Buck told WTOC this was the hardest fire they have ever had to fight, and the flames felt personal.

“But we fought hard, tried to fight it off as best we could. But like I said, whenever that wind blew the flames through there, it was just happening in a matter of seconds, it felt like,” said Austin.

Kourtney’s sister, Kierstein, said coming back and seeing everything her sister and brother-in-law have worked for being turned to rubble was almost too much to bare.

“It’s devastating. It’s still, it’s like a movie. It doesn’t seem real,” said Kierstein.

Kourtney told WTOC that moments like this remind her of how important family is.

“If you have tough relationships with people, build that relationship up because in times like these, that’s the people that you’re going to need.”

Battalion Chief Buck, wanting to help other families avoid the same devastating fate: “People who smoke cigarettes, please don’t throw your cigarettes out because at about 20% humidity and below, a cigarette will catch the grass on fire. So anything, I mean, it doesn’t take a lot to catch grass on fire when it’s low humidity like it is.”

The cause of the fire still remains under investigation.

If you’re interested in helping Kourtney and Jamie rebuild their home, they have started a go-fund me page to help with the cost of rebuilding a home with no insurance. You can find that link here.