Military heirloom rescued from fire
While the Corley family may be temporarily displaced, Rome firefighters make sure they don’t lose everything.
Amanda Corley said it was like “watching them work with a human,” in describing the way firefighters handled the flag, pulled from her burning home, that had once lain across a World War II veteran’s casket.
Rome-Floyd County firefighters responded to Corley’s Eden Valley Road home around 9:30 p.m. Thursday night for a structure fire at a doublewide mobile home. The fire was started by embers from a fireplace or an object near it overheating, Battalion Chief Danny Lee said.
Damages to the home were minimal, Lee added, but were enough to temporarily displace Amanda Corley and her husband, David Corley, along with their sons: 12-year-old twins Levi and Dawson Corley, and 18-year-old Josh Corley.
Amanda Corley said they’d been renting the mobile home for only a couple of months, and the inset fireplace was their only source of heat. The family is staying with her mother while they look for a new home or until the homeowner can make repairs.
Amanda Corley said she was preparing the twins for bed when she looked back and “saw orange” spreading from the fireplace. She and her boys went into emergency mode, she said, and began throwing what they could out the door.
When firefighters arrived, Lee said, Capt. Clay Walker and Capt. Ross Wyatt assessed the fire as minor, but as they are trained, salvaging what they could became a top priority.
Lee, a veteran himself, said firefighters first and foremost look to extinguish a blaze, but removing items of value are also kept in mind.
“Salvage is one of the key elements in responding to a structure fire,” Lee said. “For us, what we’re seeing is different than what a family is seeing.”
Firefighters noticed a shadow box with an American flag and several military medals that was on the verge of catching fire near the fireplace. Lee said his guys know he’s a veteran and knew he would have seen the military heirlooms if they were left behind.
The flag was draped over David Corley’s grandfather’s casket during his funeral, and Lee said “replacing it is not an option.”
Amanda Corley, the wife of an Army veteran
herself, recalls the scene of a firefighter carrying the shadow box out of the home and treating it “like a child.” She said the firefighter carefully removed the flag from the box and began patting it down with water.
“They saw that that was there and wanted to make sure they did everything to preserve it,” Lee said. “They handled the
heirloom while extinguishing the fire ... (and) were able to give it back to the family that evening.”
David Corley, a disabled veteran who now drives a truck to make ends meet, was driving through Missouri on a run when he got the news Thursday night from his wife. He was told his family was safe, and his wife
comforted him by saying despite what was lost in the fire, “Those memories will always be there.”
The items of military service may have been saved, but Amanda Corley said the boys’ Christmas gifts were lost. Her sister-in-law has set up a GoFundMe account for the family, and everyone has reached out to help, which is a novel feeling, she added.
“It’s always been me helping other people,” Amanda Corley said. “And I feel that I need to turn them away because there are people in worse shape than we are.”
‘Salvage is one of the key elements in responding to a structure fire. For us, what we’re seeing is different than what a family is seeing.’ Battalion Chief Danny Lee