GORDON, Ga. — Those storms over the past couple of days have damaged dozens of homes in Central Georgia.
Judy Brown of Gordon had no idea that her house – over 100 years old– would burn down after a lightning strike.
We went out there to find out how the family is handling the loss of their history.
Her father bought it in 1939 and she was born here 3 years later. Now, she only has the clothes on her back, and she says now all her memories are lost.
"I'm heartbroken, I'm heartbroken,” Judy Brown says.
Brown says that she got a call from her son Wednesday evening. Someone saw lightning hit the tree in front of her house and it started the fire. She watched the house she shared with her husband and family for the past 50 years burn down as the first Gordon volunteer firefighter arrived.
"I lost all of my pictures and I lost all of my jewelry, my wedding rings, his wedding ring, everything. It just broke my heart to know that that part of my life was gone,” she says.
Brown says a lot of the damage could've been prevented if Gordon had a full-time fire department.
“There was a fire hydrant straight across from my house. If we had had more people, better response, we probably could've salvaged some things,” Brown says.
Gordon volunteer fire chief Terry Eady was the first and only person to respond until fire trucks arrived 12 minutes later from Irwinton and McIntyre.
"Any given day, we may not have a fireman, and then we have to rely on just myself and a few volunteers,” he says.
Eady says no city in Wilkinson County has a full-time fire department and they hope the county will fund full-time staff soon.
"Small cities just can't afford it like big cities can, you know? We have to operate on a tight budget and we just can’t afford it full-time,” Eady says.
Judy Brown will live with relatives until she can get back on her feet. Brown wants to thank her family and the volunteer fire departments in the surrounding counties in trying to save her house. She says she wouldn't be here without them.
Eady says Wilkinson County needs more volunteer firefighters. If you're interested, you can reach out to the county's fire chief.