Wrong turn leads stranger to rescue family of 14 from house fire

LYERLY, Ga. (WRCB) - A wrong turn may have saved 14 lives in northwest Georgia after a man driving home to Alabama spotted a house on fire and rushed inside to warn the family.

James Burke fell asleep in his recliner Saturday night while his wife, 11 children and one grandchild slept in their beds. He woke up to a man standing in his living room.

“The next thing I know, some guy was telling me in my living room, ‘Hey, you’ve got to get out of here. Your house is on fire,’” James Burke said.

The man, identified as Mr. Casey, was driving home to Alabama with his son. A wrong turn sent them down Highway 114 south of Lyerly.

“He was on the wrong road. His GPS put him on the wrong path. He’s never been down that road before. And he said that he knew that something kept bringing him down our road. When he saw the fire from the top of the hill, he knew he had to take action,” James Burke said.

Rescue from the home

James Burke said Casey helped pull all 12 children from the burning home and helped get firefighters to the scene.

“If it had been another five minutes, it would’ve been a different situation. We wouldn’t have made it,” Larita Burke said.

Community response

After the shock wore off Sunday morning, the Burkes said they were met with kindness from strangers, this time in their own community.

“It’s overwhelming how much, immediately, people called to ask, ‘Hey, what do you need? What can we do?’” James and Larita Burke said. “It has been a wonderful feeling. There are so many wonderful people in this community that have reached out. I didn’t realize this county was as wonderful as it was until something like this happened.”

Family looks ahead

The Burkes said the loss of their belongings is fresh in their memories and hard for the younger children to understand.

“They keep asking. My little three-year-old keeps asking, ‘Daddy, when do we go home?’ I said, ‘Soon,’” James Burke said.

“They see the burnt house, but we remind them that it’s still our house. It just needs to be fixed,” Larita Burke said.

The Burkes said they are focusing on the future.

“We are traumatized, of course, but you know what? We’re gonna turn this page, and we’re gonna get on with our lives because we have so much to live for. All of our babies made it out,” James Burke said.

The Burkes said they have fostered more than 500 children over the past 15 years. They said they hope to continue fostering once their home is rebuilt.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.