‘It happened so fast’: Wilson county teacher loses home in fire during fall break

WILSON COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — A Wilson County teacher and her family lost everything they owned in a house fire last week.

“The dryer, sorry it’s a mess in here, the dryer was right here,” said Chris Lewis as showed News 2 around what used to be his home.

The Lewis family said nothing in the home is salvageable. “The rest of the house is completely black. The walls are black, the fixtures are black. Everything that is cloth, carpet and furniture is soaked in ash,” said Jessica Lewis.

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According to the Chris and Jessica, the fire is believed to have been caused by an electrical issue and started after their daughter reloaded their dryer Thursday morning.

“You don’t realize how fast it happened. It happened so fast,” recalled Jessica.

Jessica said everyone was home at the time because of fall break, but thankfully they all managed to escape safely along with their pets.

“It wasn’t in the middle of the night, which would have been devastating. We were here, so if we hadn’t been here, I don’t know, it would have been catastrophic,” Jessica told News 2.

Jessica is a teacher for Wilson County Schools. She said the support from her students and staff is keeping her family afloat.

“This would be so much harder without the support from our family and friends in the community,” said Jessica. “They have made it where we are able to breathe and function every day.”

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Now as the family begins to start over, she said there are a few life lessons she will bring back to the classroom.

“The other thing I’ve thought about over the last couple of days is having a plan and teach the kids, this is your escape route and keep things close to an exit that really need to be gathered,” Jessica said.

A GoFundMe to support the Lewis family can be found here .

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